Transatlantic: Classical Masters

AAM rediscovers the glorious music of Brazilian composer Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia – in the company of his heroes Mozart and Haydn.

When Haydn travelled to London, his friend Mozart worried that it might be a journey too far. But the 18th century classical tradition didn’t end at the shores of Europe, and on the far side of the Atlantic, Mauricio Nunes Garcia was creating music of genius – and rising to become one of the brightest stars in Brazilian and Portuguese music.

It’s an astonishing story – especially when you consider the prejudice that the mixed-race Nunes Garcia must have faced in colonial society – but today he takes centre stage alongside Mozart’s ever-popular Clarinet Concerto. Inventive, arresting and frequently sublime, Nunes Garcia’s music makes a glorious complement to Mozart and Haydn, and AAM is performing it here for one of the first times in the modern era.