The program – also being heard in New York City for the first time – explores rarely heard instrumental gems from the salons of 1750s Paris. Featuring scintillating works from the French Rococo – music from the eve of an aesthetic revolution – these works from the 1740s and 1750s challenge expectations about Baroque music: they mix the humor and wit of early Haydn and Gluck, a little of CPE Bach’s sturm und drang, and characteristically lush French harmonies together to create a truly unique sound. The result is a fusion of baroque gestures and classical forms that combine with harmonic and technical virtuosity to yield expressive extremes.