Tuesday 7 May 2024 is the 200th anniversary of the first performance from the Ninth Symphony Of Ludwig van Beethoven which took place at the Theater am Kärntnertor on 7 May 1824. The Teatro alla Scala participates with a performance directed by its musical director Riccardo Chailly with the participation of the soprano Polina Pastirchakof the mezzo-soprano Wiebke Lehmkuhlof the tenor Benjamin Bruns and the baritone Markus Werba with the Choir directed by Alberto Malazzi to the celebrations that are multiplying all over the world for a masterpiece that not only changed the history of music, but gave expression to an ideal of universal brotherhood. It is no coincidence that the final choral movement, on the words of Friedrich Schiller’s hymn An die Freude (“To joy”, written in 1785 and published in 1786), was chosen as the anthem of the European Union.
The Italian public will be able to attend the La Scala evening filmed by Rai Cultura and broadcast live broadcast on Rai5 always the May 7 at 9.15pm conducted by Francesco Antonioni or follow the live radio – always from the Scala – up Radio3 give her 8pm.
However, the concert is also part of a European television project. “Seid umschlungen, Millionen” (“Embrace one another, multitudes”) exhort the verses of the hymn. In this spirit the cultural broadcaster ART has created an ambitious project from an organizational and artistic point of view: the four movements will be broadcast in direct/deferred (i.e. the same evening starting at 9.30pm) from four different cities. The Gewandhausorchester directed by Andris Nelsons opens the evening in Leipzig with the first movement. The program continues withOrchestras de Pariswho performs the second movement under the direction of Klaus Mäkelä by the Philharmonie de Paris. The third movement will be performed by Riccardo Chailly driving theOrchestra of the Teatro alla Scala. For the fourth and final movement, the “Ode to Joy,” ARTE returns to the city of the world premiere, Vienna. THE Wiener Symphoniker are directed by Pyotr Popelka (replacing Joana Mallwitz). The four soloists are Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Andreas Schager And Christof Fischesser together with the Wiener Singakademie.
Between movements, journalist Barbara Rett (ORF) and Christian Merlin (music critic for Radio France and Le Figaro) will present the program from the Konzerthaus in Vienna, not far from the site of the original first performance of the Symphony.
The celebration of the anniversary of Beethoven’s Ninth opens a month of intense concert activity for the musical director, who Monday 13th will return in the Philharmonic Season with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (soloist Alexander Malofeev) and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3. Thursday 23 May another capital anniversary for the history of music: the sesquicentennial of Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi in the Church of San Marco, site of the world premiere conducted by Verdi himself in memory of Alessandro Manzoni. They participate in the execution, with the Choir directed by Alberto Malazzithe soprano Marina Rebeccathe mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshinathe tenor Freddie De Tommaso and the bass Alexander Vinogradov. The 27, 29 and 30 May Riccardo Chailly returns for his second program for the Symphonic Season with a wonderful layout dedicated to the classics of the Second Vienna School. On the lecterns Verklärte Nacht by Arnold Schönberg, the Passacaglia op.1 by Anton Webern e Three fragments from Wozzeck by Alban Berg with soprano Marlis Petersen.
Further information: www.teatroallascala.org
