Beethoven Festival 2009

Adelaide Festival Centre and Australian Youth Orchestra in association with State Opera of South Australia present 2009 Beethoven Festival featuring the Australian Youth Orchestra

In 2008 the Australian Youth Orchestra brought audiences to their feet with three triumphant concerts of Beethoven Symphonies and Piano Concertos.

In 2009 the Australian Youth Orchestra will reunite with Grammy-award winning conductor John Nelson and international piano-sensation Herbert Schuch to complete the Beethoven Cycle of symphonies and piano concertos.

The festival culminates with Beethoven's Symphony No.9 featuring the soloists and chorus of the State Opera of South Australia, and the Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus in what promises to be an unforgettable conclusion to a thrilling series of concerts.

"Remarkable was the beauty of their sound. Truly gorgeous - an astonishing success."The Australian

THURSDAY 23 JULY
Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.21
Piano Concerto No.2 in B major, Op.19
Symphony No.6 in F major, Op.68, Pastoral

FRIDAY 24 JULY
Symphony No.2 in D major, Op.36
Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.37
Symphony No.7 in A major, Op.92

SATURDAY 25 JULY
Symphony No.8 in F Major, Op.93
Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125, Choral

Conductor
John Nelson (USA)

Soloist
Herbert Schuch (Germany)

With soloists
Aivale Cole, Elizabeth Campbell, Henry Choo & Douglas McNicol,
the chorus of the State Opera of South Australia, Chorus Master Timothy Sexton and members of the Adelaide Philharmonia Chorus

FREE pre-performance talks will be presented by Timothy Sexton in the Piano Bar on each of the three nights.   

Talk 1: Thursday 23 July
Pastoral care – Beethoven and the call of the wild.
An exploration of Beethoven’s love of nature, and it’s embodiment in the Symphony No.6 the “Pastoral” Symphony.

Talk 2: Friday 24 July
Inner voices – optimism in a decade of deafness.
A little over ten years separate the writing of Symphonies 2 and 7.  Like Mozart, Beethoven had an uncanny ability to writing brilliantly cheerful music when in times of greatest despair. A journey into Beethoven’s eventual acceptance of his silent fate.

Talk 3: Saturday 25 July
Symphonic Schiller – odes, modes and the road to freedom.
Beethoven’s magnum symphonic opus broke the mould and changed music forever.  An exploration of his journey from the brevity and jocularity of the Eighth Symphony to the expansiveness and majesty of the mighty Ninth.