Domenico Cimarosa (1749 – 1801) was born in Aversa to a poor family.  His parents wanted to give him a good education and sent him to a school which was associated with a monastery in Naples.  The organist there noticed the boy’s talent and tutored him in keyboard playing and musical composition.  Young Domenico got a scholarship to a conservatory in Naples, where he studied the new art form of opera and produced his first score, Le stravaganze del conte.  This comic opera was a hit and the young composer was on his way.  His many works are both serious and humorous, and his fame spread all over Italy and then Europe.  He wrote his most famous work, Il matrimonio segreto, for Emperor Leopold II of Vienna, and other works, including a Requiem mass, for Empress Catherine II of Russia.

Some of Domenico Cimarosa’s works do not survive, but the scores we have reveal a light, deft touch with humorous texts.  The Atlantic Youth Orchetra will play the overture to L’impresario in angustie (1786) on their concert in March.