BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 1 & 9

Only a portion of the choir will be performing in this performance. Although all singers are guaranteed to sing at least one performance of this work, there is no guarantee that Josh will be singing this night. Once more information about the individual concert rosters are available updates will be posted here. Performances that Josh is not singing, will be removed.

The year 2020 marks the 250th birthday of Beethoven. The Philadelphia Orchestra celebrates this milestone by performing music by composers of today in dialogue with Beethoven’s symphonies. Composer-in- Residence Gabriela Lena Frank, and a diverse group of composers from her Creative Academy of Music offer newly written works that inspire and push boundaries—to elevate the context in which Beethoven’s legacy is understood today.

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin – Conductor
Angel Blue – Soprano
Mihoko Fujimura – Mezzo-soprano
Rolando Villazón – Tenor
Quinn Kelsey – Baritone
Westminster Symphonic Choir and Community Voices
Joe Miller – Director

PROGRAM

Frank – Work in Dialogue with Beethoven -WORLD PREMIERE- PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA COMMISSION
Beethoven – Symphony No. 1
Intermission
Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”)

Thursday, April 2, 2020
7:30 PM
VERIZON HALL

Beethoven was just 25 when he wrote his First Symphony. Delightful and high-spirited, floating on strains of Mozart and Haydn, it’s a fascinating glimpse of the greatness and genius to come—all on full, glorious display in the climactic Ninth. Written just a few short years before his death, Beethoven’s profound ode to brotherhood, salvation, and pure joy reminds us why we are here as an orchestra, says Yannick, and why we constantly try to make our world better by playing music.