The piano trio was one of the most popular types of domestic music in the late eighteenth century, catering for the vogue for the new fortepiano and the virtuosity of many of its female players. In this programme Trio Goya contrast Haydn’s late Trio no. 27 in C major and the Trio in D major by the English composer Stephen Storace (friend and pupil of Mozart) with Mozart’s Sonata in B flat major for violin and piano, K454, and Beethoven’s Variations in F major for violoncello and piano, based on an aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Trio Goya takes its name from the Spanish artist Francesco Goya (1746-1828), a contemporary of these composers and a figure in the history of painting equivalent to Beethoven. Its members are leaders in the field of historically informed performance of music of the Classical period; Sebastian Comberti will be remembered for his appearances in the 2003 and 2004 Festivals. Maggie Cole plays a fortepiano copied from a 1795 original by Mozart’s friend, the Viennese maker Anton Walter.