A CELEBRATION OF
BEETHOVEN
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The answer (if one can be given at all) perhaps lies in the universal themes that embody the man and his music: struggle against adversity; an on-going quest for perfection; refusal to accept conventions for the sake of doing so; and the ability to explore (and express) a multitude of human emotions through music. In his review of the Fifth Symphony, E.T.A. Hoffman opined that Beethoven ‘irresistibly sweeps the listener into the wonderful spirit-realm of the infinite’, and with the inclusion of this work on the 1977 Voyager shuttle’s so-called Golden Record – carried off into space for all eternity – Beethoven’s legacy is indeed infinite, or in the words of Stravinsky (discussing the Große Fugue), his music ‘will be contemporary forever’. By Siân Derry Beethoven specialist, and MA Musicology Course Director at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
RESIDENT ORCHESTRA
ASSOCIATE ARTIST
Sir Simon Rattle & London Symphony Orchestra Berg & Beethoven London Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle Conductor Dorothea Röschmann Soprano Berg Passacaglia Seven Early Songs Three Pieces Op 6 Beethoven Symphony No 7 To begin the year Beethoven turns 250, Sir Simon Rattle thrillingly pairs Beethoven’s most explosive symphony with the lush, emotionally-supercharged music of Alban Berg. It’ll never sound better than it does here in Symphony Hall. 40 years on from Rattle’s debut as principal conductor of the CBSO, it’s always a red letter day when he returns to the hall that he had built, in the city that’s still his true musical home. Date: Tue 14 January Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 7:30PM Tickets from £12.50
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© Tristram Kenton
With 2020 marking the 250th anniversary of his birth, Beethoven’s name is looming large, whether in concert programmes or in more diverse arenas. Naturally, questions over his legacy and relevance for the twenty-first century arise. What is it about Beethoven that continues to draw audiences? Why does his music resonate with so many on so many different levels?
Missa Solemnis Ex Cathedra
© Alex-Hungary
Ex Cathedra City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Jeffrey Skidmore Conductor Carolyn Sampson Soprano Sophie Rennert Mezzo Soprano Andrew Tortise Tenor Roderick Williams Bass Beethoven devoted four years to his monumental Missa Solemnis. Passionate, humble, majestic and intense, nothing he composed surpasses it for scale, sincerity or sheer vision.
Orchestre National de Lille
Orchestre National de Lille Alexandre Bloch Conductor Eric Lu Piano Ravel Debussy Beethoven Ravel
Suite, Ma mère l’Oye La Mer Piano Concerto No 4 La valse
Under the inspirational Alexandre Bloch, the Orchestre National de Lille brings an unmistakably Gallic style, as well as a chance to hear 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition winner Eric Lu in Beethoven’s most poetic – and personal – concerto, sandwiched between works by Ravel and Debussy. “I have slandered the sea…it is beautiful enough to defy all comparisons…” Debussy was his own toughest critic: La Mer is the most gorgeous seascape ever painted by an orchestra, just as Ravel’s La Valse evokes a whole, sumptuous civilisation in impressionist colours. Date: Tue 28 January Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 7:30PM Tickets from £12.50
Date: Sun 26 January Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 4PM Tickets from £13
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s Beethoven City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla Conductor Martin James Bartlett Piano (29 Jan only) Beethoven Symphony No. 2 Unsuk Chin SPIRA - A Concerto for Orchestra (30 Jan only. CBSO Centenary Commission, UK Premiere) Britten Young Apollo (29 Jan only) Beethoven Symphony No. 4 In the year that the CBSO turns 100, Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla has picked out two of Beethoven’s fastest, funniest and most thrilling symphonies. Date: Wed 29 and Thu 30 January Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 2:15PM (Wed 29) & 7:30PM (Thu 30) Tickets from £13
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Sibelius and Beethoven City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Osmo Vänskä Conductor Ning Feng Violin
Man Yee Lee
Sibelius Beethoven Beethoven Sibelius
Kathy Chow in recital
Pohjola’s Daughter Violin Concerto Romance No. 2 Symphony No. 7
In an inspired stroke, the great Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä has matched Sibelius with the timeless serenity of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, played by the breath-taking Ning Feng. Date: Wed 22 April Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 7:30PM Tickets from £13
Kathy Chow Piano includes: Beethoven Sonata No 30 Op 109 The Australian pianist Kathy Chow considers the piano to be her “voice”. “I treasure the connection I feel when I listen to, or play music; it has become my way of communicating with people”, she says, and that communicative skill captivated judges and audience alike when she won the 2018 Birmingham International Piano Competition. Her first full-length Town Hall recital pays homage to Beethoven whilst embracing Prokofiev, plus the deep Romantic poetry of Debussy, Schumann and Chopin.
Beethoven’s Eroica City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Julian Rachlin Conductor/Violin Sarah McElravy Viola Rossini The Thieving Magpie: Overture Mozart Sinfonia Concertante Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
Date: Wed 1 April Venue: Town Hall
Julian Rachlin unleashes the full, revolutionary force of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony: music that changed history. Rossini’s sparkling overture, meanwhile, aims only to delight.
Time: 7:30PM Tickets from £12.50
Date: Wed 29 and Thu 30 April Venue: Symphony Hall Time: 2:15PM (Wed 29) & 7:30PM (Thu 30) Tickets from £13
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