Shunske Sato: Between Bach and Mozart

Great promise

With a unique program of both famous masters and illustrious unknowns, Sato, artistic director of the Netherlands Bach Society until 2023, draws the line from Bach's baroque rhetoric to Mozart's classical harmony. Along the way we meet Giovanni Battista 'Padre' Martini, the internationally renowned authority who taught countless composers, including the young Mozart. And have you heard of Thomas Linley Jr.? This violin virtuoso and exact contemporary of Mozart, like him a child prodigy, was the great promise of English music. Sadly, he died at the age of 22.

Friendship in Bologna

The Czech Josef Mysliveček made a name for himself in Italy and became friends with father and son Mozart in Bologna. The orchestra will play one of Mysliveček's more than fifty symphonies, which unmistakably formed a model for those of the younger Mozart. Sato leads the orchestra as violinist and is the soloist in a concerto by Linley and in Mozart's First Violin Concerto . The latter reminds us that Mozart was not only a keyboard virtuoso but also a brilliant violinist.