The Amadeus Ensemble

the Amadeus ensemble was formed in 2014 by like-minded musicians wanting to perform concert programmes with Mozart central to the repertoire. Mozart composed at a time when song and dance were the heart and soul of late eighteenth century music and his music captures its very essence ; just listen to how lyrical, gracious, witty and utterly charming his music is. Concerts are performed at 3:00pm on Sunday afternoons at St Anne's Church in Moseley. Moseley is a very cosmopolitan and residential area, known for its rich artistic community, including the Moseley Folk Festival, the "Mostly Jazz" Soul & Funk Festival, and the "Pow Wow" Litfest. Moseley Village is a popular leisure destination with a number of bars and restaurants. lt is hoped that our concerts will enrich the artistic life of Moseley and its residents. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a prolific composer who showed outrageous ability from his earliest childhood. Already talented on both keyboard and violin, he began composing from the age of five. During his childhood he travelled with his father, Leopold, around Europe and performed in all the Royal Courts. His audiences were simply enchanted by this talented little boy who delighted them with his innocent charm as well as his musical excellence. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and travelled in search of a better paid position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position having tested the patience of the Archbishop once too often. He chose to stay in Vienna, where he achieved much fame but little fortune. During his final years, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, operas and much of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his early death have been the subject of many a conspiracy theory, most famously in the play "Amadeus", by Peter Schaffer. Mozart was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons. Mozart composed over six hundred works and is considered to be one of the most popular of classical composers; many of his works are eternal favourites. His influence on subsequent Western an music is profound; Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 700 years."