Beethoven’s 9th

When your conductor, José Luis, introduced the upcoming 2020–2021 Season, he associated Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the winter holidays. The tradition of performing Beethoven’s 9th on New Year’s Eve actually began in Germany during 1918, the same year as the flu pandemic. During World War I, the German prisoners held at the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp introduced this end-of-year tradition to the Japanese, who also began performing it every New Year’s Eve. This piece has often been used throughout history to bring people together in times of both crisis and celebration. It has been used as a rallying cry in Chilean protests, by student protesters in Tienanmen Square and it was performed at the fall of the Berlin Wall.  

Your conductor, José Luis, explains, “Apart from being a work of such importance and relevance musically, it also brings out through the text sung in the last movement that feeling of brotherhood, hope and joy, so much needed specially during current times.  

It is a symphony that any musician can’t wait to perform again and again. For the audience, it is one of the most uplifting listening experiences ever.”  

 Your conductor, your musicians, your orchestra, will perform Beethoven’s 9th next December as our own rallying cry. We can’t wait to make music with you next season.

We recommend watching Beethoven’s 9th conducted by José Luis’s mentor, Paavo Järvi with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie