On Saturday, November 28 at 8 P.M., the estimable Orchestra New England, led by Maestro James Sinclair, will usher in the holiday season with its annual "Concert of Mufick" in the style of the time of the Revolutionary War. This is the 47th year of a tradition that brings alive the music of composers popular in the 1780s, with new star Mozart and old masters including JS Bach and Handel. The concert is held at the historic United Church on the Green at the corner of Temple and Elm Streets. A festive pre-concert dinner takes place at 6pm at The Elm City Club, just across Elm Street.

The featured symphony on this historic-recreation concert will be the “just-arriving-in-the-New World” Mozart Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”) which was composed in 1782; it is one of the greatest and most popular symphonies of the Classical Era.

“Getting such a score and its performance materials to Colonial America took years of work. Everything required hand copying,” Sinclair shares for historical context. In addition, the concert will include orchestral and vocal excerpts from plays and operas.

ONE’s guest organist will play a masterpiece by JS Bach (who was no longer popular in the 1780s!) and the fabulous choral group Alchemy returns to close the concert with the grand music that concludes Handel’s ever-popular Messiah.

The musicians and soloists will be attired in 18th-century finery; the church will be festooned for Christmas and lit in candlelight. This is a New Haven tradition not to be missed!

Colonial Concert XLVII Tickets: $50 reserved seating; $30 general admission; $5 Student Rush tickets are available at the door. Tickets for the delicious pre-concert dinner at 6pm across the street at the Elm City Club are $58 per person. Media Sponsors: WSHU and WMNR. For tickets and information, www.orchestranewengland.org or email info@orchestranewengland.org.