Event programme for the 2023-24 season

7 May 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Beethoven had already studied Friedrich Schiller's ode "To Joy" in his youth in Bonn and considered setting it to music, but it was not until decades later that he would realise this project. The Beethoven-Haus is placing the 200th anniversary of the premiere of the Ninth at the centre of its programme for the 2023-2024 season.

Several key events funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media will focus on the anniversary of this epoch-making work: two commemorative concerts are planned for 7 and 8 May 2024. In these concerts, the Ninth will be performed for the first time since its premiere in the instrumentation, arrangement and programmatic constellation that Beethoven himself had specified. The Original Sound Orchestra Vienna Academy under the direction of Martin Haselböck and the WDR Radio Choir will be responsible for the musical realisation. Further details will be announced at a separate press conference on this project. The concerts will be accompanied by an international academic congress in Bonn from 4 to 6 May 2024, which promises the latest insights into the Ninth Symphony.

The Ninth, as the melody of the European anthem and with its humanist message, is also reflected in other projects at the Beethoven-Haus: for example, in a special exhibition that examines the power of music and football to unite (nations) with a view to the 2024 European Football Championship (January to May 2024, in cooperation with the German Football Museum, Dortmund). Daniel Hope, violinist and President of the Beethoven-Haus, will also make a connection to the anniversary of the Ninth in the chamber music festival BTHVN WOCHE (9 to 11 May 2024), which he is curating under the motto "Humanism". The detailed programme is yet to be announced.

Another special exhibition will focus on the great Beethoven interpreter Leonard Bernstein (May to August 2024). Originally planned for the Beethoven anniversary year 2020, the exhibition traces Bernstein's lifelong engagement with the composer.

The design of the event overview also picks up on the anniversary of the Ninth Symphony: Japanese photographer Mariko Tagashiro provided 20 photos from her award-winning cycle "Visible - 'To Joy'" for the brochure. They show Japanese children from the White Hands Chorus NIPPON, an inclusive music project, interpreting the music and text of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

The Beethoven-Haus is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of cellist and peace activist Pablo Casals with a benefit concert for UN refugee aid on 22 October 2023. Casals gave his only two concerts in Germany after the Second World War at the Beethoven-Haus. In their concert, Philipp Schupelius, cello, and Robert Neumann, piano, will play music centred around Casal's life, work and world of thought. The idea for the programme came from Philipp Schupelius, who was awarded the Fanny Mendelssohn Prize for Music and Programme Concepts.

The Beethoven-Haus is dedicating the traditional Baptism Day concert on 17 December 2023 to the "Melodies of Life" project. Together with actress Iris Berben, an ensemble of seven renowned musicians will present the lives of Jewish composers and musicians who composed and performed melodies banned by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945 - a project by the Evangelical Church District of Tempelhof-Schöneberg with the kind support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Anti-Semitism.

The concert series

In addition to the main themes, the Beethoven-Haus will offer numerous highlights and discoveries in its concerts from October 2023 to June 2024. For example, two legendary string quartet ensembles will be guests: the Juilliard Quartet and the Gewandhaus Quartet (13 November 2023 and 8 June 2024). Cellist Raphaela Gromes has put together a surprising programme exclusively for female composers (25 February), and the "Piano Recitals" include Frenchman David Fray - with works by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt (28 October) - and the pianist brothers Lucas and Artus (15 February). Two international singing stars, soprano Anna Prohaska and tenor Ian Bostridge, will perform in the "Liederabende" series in the Chamber Music Hall (19 November 2023 and 30 May 2024).

The "Young Stars" series once again brings seven outstanding young musicians and ensembles to Bonn. In the "Screen Concerts" (in cooperation with the Förderverein Filmkultur e.V.) there is a documentary about a journey to the originals of Beethoven's arrangements of Scottish folk songs (26.11.), and not only children will certainly enjoy three silent films with the "Little Rascals" from 1928 with live musical accompaniment (3.3.2024). In the jazz series "Aspekte", there are four concerts that will once again be recorded by Deutschlandfunk: two solo piano evenings - with Sebastian Sternal (29.11.) and the Norwegian Eyolf Dale (26.1.). Spanish pianist Daniel Garcia comes to the Chamber Music Hall with his trio (22 February), and the group Sisters in Jazz brings five outstanding female jazz musicians to the stage (25 October).

The Beethoven-Haus programme is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Bonn and the Hermann J. Abs Foundation.

The Beethoven-Haus offers three subscriptions: the Chamber Music subscription with six concerts, the Piano subscription with five concerts and the Young Stars subscription with seven concerts. The subscriptions can only be ordered in writing and by 22 September from the Chamber Music Hall (kammermusiksaal@beethoven.de). The free advance sale begins on 19 June. Tickets are available via BONNTICKET, at all eventim advance booking offices and in the Beethoven-Haus shop. Members of the Beethoven-Haus Association and the Circle of Friends and Patrons have the opportunity to secure tickets before the free advance sale begins. The complete Beethoven-Haus programme for the 2023-2024 season is available on the Beethoven-Haus website at www.beethoven.de/saison2023/24. The printed programme will also be sent on request.

Artist photos can be downloaded from the artists' websites. They can also be sent on request.

Please also see the long version of the press release in the appendix.

Opening hours of the museum 
Wednesday to Monday - 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday closed

Contact 
Ursula Timmer-Fontani 
Head of Corporate Communications 
timmer-fontani@beethoven.de
Phone +49 228 98175-16

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