Open University Choir concert: Martines and Mozart

The OU Choir’s free lunchtime concert characteristically features a mix of the familiar with the unfamiliar, with music by Marianna Martines, WA Mozart and Paulo Papini.

Martines was at the hub of musicmaking in late eighteenth century Vienna. Her exuberant and charming setting of Dixit Dominus for chorus, soloists and orchestra stands the test of time and deserves to be more widely known.

The concert features several works by her contemporary WA Mozart, including his familiar Ave verum corpus, and the programme is completed with a setting of the Magnificat by Paulo Papini, a contemporary and near neighbour of Palestrina, which has recently been transcribed by Dr Naomi Barker, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Music Department at The Open University. This will be only the second performance of this piece since the sixteenth century, and the first in a non-liturgical context.

The OU Choir is joined by the Cantoribus Ensemble and is conducted by the choir’s musical director, Bill Strang.