Classical with a Twist

Our upcoming program, Classical with a Twist brings together composers who honor tradition while slyly reinventing it. Joseph Haydn’s Overture to Die Feuerbrunst sparkles with theatrical energy and Classical poise, while Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s breathless Overture to The Marriage of Figaro plunges us headlong into comic mischief with unstoppable momentum. In his Symphony No. 1, Ludwig van Beethoven both salutes his predecessors and gently unsettles their conventions, opening with a playful harmonic surprise. More than a century later, Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, the “Classical,” affectionately reimagines the 18th century through a modern lens—bright, lean, and edged with irony—while Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite transforms Baroque inspiration into something unmistakably 20th century, full of rhythmic bite and wit. Together, these works reveal the Classical style not as a fixed ideal, but as a living tradition—ripe for surprise, reinvention, and delight.