Add to that a concert of Spanish chamber music, where a Boccherini sonata for violin and guitar are on a programme that also includes music by his Spanish contemporaries Pablo Vidal and Fernando Sor.

Boccherini’s chamber music often reflects the fact that he was a cellist. He wrote more than 100 string quintets, giving him the opportunity to include two cellos instead of just the one found in more common string quartet ensembles. His sonatas and concertos are also predominantly for cello. A sample of this music can be heard in the closing concert, when the programme includes his cello concerto in G, the famous minuet from his string quintet in E (have a listen on the Concertgebouw’s website if you’re not sure which one it is) and a string sextet.

Vocal works feature in the festival, from the “Stabat Mater” for soprano and string quintet as part of the opening concert, starring American soprano Claron McFadden, to Italian concert arias sung by Argentinian soprano Soledad Cardoso.

To get a bigger picture of Boccherini, there are plenty of interviews and lectures dotted throughout the weekend, as well as a 2008 documentary that follows the cellist Anner Bijlsma on his journey to Spain to pass on “the secret of Boccherini” to a new generation of musicians and an exhibition on the life and work of Boccherini.

4-6 June
Concertgebouw
’t Zand 34, Bruges
www.concertgebouw.be