Mozart's 40th, Aurora Orchestra, Granary Square

Here's a really brilliant afternoon out for all the family.

Aurora Orchestra is the young ensemble that has put back into classical music the excitement that first audiences must have felt, when composers were breaking new ground. Today we can take for granted the dynamism of Mozart, but he was breaking boundaries at speed, and by the time he reached his now familiar Symphony No. 40, his cutting edge was very sharp indeed.





By playing music from memory, Aurora find again the breath-taking innovation and sense of danger that came with a new work. And in Granary Square on 1 July, just by Central St Martin's, the orchestra plays the best of Mozart's 40th from memory – and for free.

Just roll up good and early, ice cream-ready, sit back and take in this amazing musical journey as you have never heard it before. And rather than a separate audience/orchestra divide, everyone involved, players and listeners alike, will be caught up in this immersive event, savouring extracts from this great symphony.

Packed with memorable melodies and giddying orchestral colours, the so-called Great G minor symphony is one of the most loved works in the classical repertoire. Written towards the end of the composer's short life, it may never have been heard performed by Mozart himself.



The 4:30pm free open-air concert is a prelude to Aurora's performance that same evening in Kings Place. From 7PM it gives a full-length concert that includes's the whole of Mozart's 40th, plus Stravinsky and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 13 with soloist Cédric Tiberghien.

For the full Aurora experience, stay on for the Lock-In at 9:15pm, a relaxed late-night event where anything goes.

Then follow the Aurora's memory feats again at the BBC Proms: on Monday 6 August at 10:15PM, the orchestra plays Shostakovich's Symphony No 9 from memory.