Hi audience!

Firstly – thank you for coming tonight. I really feel that coming together and having communal experiences such as tonight’s concert are becoming more and more important to our lives. Daily life places so much emphasis on technology and ‘connectivity’ but can bring with it so much alienation and solitude. Leaving the house sometimes becomes an act of will in itself – why go and experience something live, when one can summon up any number of recordings to listen to? Or a Netflix series to watch?

I am writing this before the rehearsals for this concert have even started – so I feel like a ghost writing a letter to the future. But what I hope you are feeling now is joy and elation – something much better experienced in the company of other humans! The last movement of Mozart 41 for me is about as happy as it gets. It is cheeky, absurd, random, hilarious, stylish, fiercely intelligent, optimistic and so full of joy. I would compare the feeling it transmits to me to a baby’s smile or to your dog jumping up and down to welcome you home.

There are several substantial repeated sections in this movement. Normally musicians give a little cheer if a conductor decides to leave out one of these repeats. (It might even mean getting the early train home!). This is one of the only works where I would honestly feel sad if the conductor makes that decision,

I hope that Ivan Fischer makes the right choice (!) and I hope that you all leave tonight smiling at each other!

Hurrah for Mozart!

Dan