In Vienna, in the early 19th century, the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828) organised informal, intimate gatherings amongst friends and patrons, where his chamber music, poetry and dance blended together in a convivial atmosphere. These were the famous Schubertiades. This Christmas, Pedro Burmester and his guests offer us a concert in a similar spirit, celebrating a pivotal composer at the crossroads between Classicism and Romanticism, whom Harold Schonberg, the renowned American critic, called "the first lyric poet of music".