Orchestra Of St. Luke's Chamber Music Series Continues In Feb. With Mozart At Merkin Hall, Morgan Library, And Brooklyn Museum

St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble's signature Chamber Music Series continues with an all-Mozart winter program which features two beloved works of the classical repertoire, one of which is a remarkably virtuosic showpiece for strings the rarely-heard Grande sestetto concertante, an 1808 string sextet setting of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, K. 364 and the other, an opportunity for the clarinet soloist to shine, his Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581.

St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble will perform on February 5, at Merkin Hall, February 6 at The Morgan Library & Museum, and February 10 at Brooklyn Museum. Mozart had been experimenting with the sinfonia concertante genre, a crossover between symphony and concerto, and during a 1779 tour of Europe that included stops in Mannheim and Paris he composed the Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 in three movements for solo violin, solo viola, two oboes, two horns, and strings. With its first edition only released in 1802, the Sinfonia Concertante is the only surviving work by Mozart in this genre, which bridges the Baroque concerto grosso with the 19th century symphony and concerto.

The unattributed arrangement for string sextet was published in 1808. Written for his friend and clarinetist Anton Stadler in 1789, the Clarinet Quintet in A Major is one of the most glorious works in the chamber music repertoire. It premiered at one of four annual performances for an organization that funded the widows and orphans of musicians. Mozart was enamored of the clarinet, which he described as having soft, sweet breath, and was the first composer to include it in symphonies.