symphoniaASSAI looks with Footprints into the genesis of three masterpieces from Mozart and Mendelssohn. The Hebrides overture, as well as the Piano concerto and the Scottish symphony, saw the light during a journey that would mean an indelible impact on their generation. Come and listen to this beautiful programme in Hasselt and Brussels with Maarten Lingier as soloist on piano!

Mendelssohn and Mozart have more in common than might appear at first sight. Their music breathes the same purity, naturalness and spontaneity. Mendelssohn, who was named by Schumann as "the Mozart of the 19th century", completed, as Mozart did, some of his works entirely in his head before putting them down on paper. They both displayed an exceptional musical talent at a very early age. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who got to know both composers as young children, immediately compared Mendelssohn with the prodigy Mozart and was very impressed by his tremendous skills in improvisation and sight-reading, describing them as "bordering on the miraculous." Unfortunately both composers would die an early death but despite their short existences, both Mozart and Mendelssohn left us an impressive oeuvre.