Beethoven 250
To celebrate 250 years since his birth, we gather the world’s finest musicians in a year-long exploration of classical music’s most mythologised genius: the music, the man, and his place in our time.
So as well as presenting his complete Symphonies, Piano Concertos and recitals from the likes of Evgeny Kissin and Anne-Sophie Mutter, we explore some of Beethoven’s less familiar works. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO in Christ on the Mount of Olives as he compares and contrasts Beethoven and Alban Berg, while the Academy of Ancient Music perform his complete incidental music for Egmont.
And we consider how contemporary composers approach this monolithic figure, with David Lang’s prisoner of the state viewing Fidelio through a modern lens and Matthew Herbert offering an irreverent response in Beethoven NEIN! during our Beethoven Weekender – two days of music, talks, films, exhibitions and Level G events promising to be the ultimate celebration of the great composer.
Events
Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Beethoven
Three of Beethoven’s most celebrated violin sonatas from one of the world’s pre-eminent violinists.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo
A landmark concert as the Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo resurrect an explosive, elegiac and rhapsodic symphony once buried by history and prejudice.
Gardiner conducts Beethoven: Symphony No 1
From the anarchic chords that open his First Symphony, Beethoven’s symphonies are more than just music: they’re acts of revolution.
Gardiner conducts Beethoven: Symphony Nos 2 and 3
If Beethoven’s Second Symphony is the sound of a young artist stretching his wings, the Third – the Eroica – is the moment when his genius takes flight.
Gardiner conducts Beethoven: Symphony Nos 4 and 5
Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Beethoven Symphony cycle reaches its halfway point with the most famous four notes in the history of music.
Gardiner conducts Beethoven: Symphony Nos 6 and 7
Birds sing, horns call and streams flow: there’s no experience more refreshing than Beethoven’s lovely Pastoral symphony. And there’s none more exuberantly physical than his unstoppable Seventh.
Gardiner conducts Beethoven: Symphony Nos 8 and 9
Beethoven’s Ninth is the summit of any Beethoven cycle; some might say of classical music itself. All the more reason to pair it with the uproarious Eighth – pure comedy, delivered with a punch.
Budapest Festival Orchestra and Sir András Schiff
Fischer and his crack Budapest orchestra, famous for their virtuosity and exuberance, present a revelatory programme pairing Beethoven’s sunniest Piano Concerto with Dvořák’s autumnal Sixth Symphony.
Budapest Festival Orchestra and Sir András Schiff
Sunlight, shadows, and evening songs as Sir András Schiff reaches the end of his Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Academy of Ancient Music: Beethoven and Dussek
Stephen Fry joins AAM as it begins our Beethoven 250 anniversary celebrations with the complete incidental music for Goethe’s play Egmont.
Budapest Festival Orchestra and Sir András Schiff
In the first of four concerts celebrating Beethoven’s Piano Concertos, Sir András Schiff joins the BFO and Iván Fischer in the enigmatic, poetic Fourth – a true meeting of musical minds.
Budapest Festival Orchestra and Sir András Schiff
Sir András Schiff, Iván Fischer and the peerless Budapest Festival Orchestra continue their anniversary salute to the music of Beethoven with his mighty Emperor Concerto.
BBC Symphony Orchestra: David Lang’s prisoner of the state
Follow one woman’s personal struggle against political oppression in this dark, seething and engrossing new minimalist opera from the co-founder of pioneering new music collective Bang on a Can.
Half Six Fix: London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle marries two works of extraordinary intensity, played back-to-back in just one hour in this early-evening Half Six Fix concert, and introduced on-stage by the conductor.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle: Beethoven & Berg
Sir Simon Rattle presents a triptych of Alban Berg’s early masterpieces paired with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle: Beethoven 250
Marrying emotive force with theatrically, Sir Simon Rattle sheds light on a rarely performed Beethoven masterpiece and Berg’s lyrical Violin Concerto with Lisa Batiashvili.
Beethoven Weekender: weekend tickets
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Join the ultimate celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven as we explore the man, the music, and his place in our time in a jam-packed festival weekend.
