Haydn operas showcased at Wigmore Hall

The complete but rarely performed operas of Franz Joseph Haydn are to be showcased in an unprecedented concert in London.

Arias from all the 16 surviving operas will be performed by the Classical Opera Company at the Wigmore Hall next month.

Ian Page, director of the company, said the operas had been almost forgotten compared with the symphonies and works for string quartets.

"Haydn's so neglected as an opera composer and yet he's perhaps one of the top dozen composers of all time," he said.

One reason for their obscurity is they were nearly all written for Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy, Haydn's greatest patron whose court was in modern Hungary, some way from the heart of European power in the 18th century.