Music
The Berlin Philharmonic: The Digital Concert Hall

8th Concert 2019

Mon, 09/09/2019
12:00 PM Goethe-Institut Chicago

Live at the Brandenburg Gate: Kirill Petrenko conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Berliner Philharmoniker
Conductor: Kirill Petrenko

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op. 125 with Final Chorus “Ode to Joy”

Soloists:
Marlis Petersen soprano
Elisabeth Kulman mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Bruns tenor
Kwangchul Youn bass
Rundfunkchor Berlin, Gijs Leenaars chorus master
 
What would Beethoven have thought about the Brandenburg Gate? When the then 25-year-old composer came to Berlin for his only visit in 1796, it had only been erected at the end of the boulevard Unter den Linden a few years before. The then King Friedrich Wilhelm II had it built in the classical style as a magnificent monument for the city, bearing the word “Friedenstor” (Peace Gate) in bronze lettering. Beethoven spent about two months in Berlin, during which time he demonstrated his outstanding pianistic and musical skills at the royal court. He probably got to know the heir to the throne, the later King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who was the same age as he was. Thirty years later, Beethoven dedicated his Ninth Symphony to him, under whose reign Prussia was reformed into a modern state.

RSVP HERE