Great news for fans of classical music, in 2020 you will be able to enjoy most of Beethoven's works as performed by world famous artists without leaving Guangzhou. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven, the Xinghai Concert Hall and Guangzhou Opera House will jointly run a special programme entitled ‘A Tribute to Beethoven’ throughout next year. The programme is set to include over 25 performances and will be branded ‘BTHVN2020’.

Guangzhou Little Skylark Children’s Choir, along with Guangzhou Opera House Children's Chorus through video, perform the Chinese version Ode to Joy, or Symphony No. 9 in D minor, and Op. 12, Beethoven's best-known work and one of the most performed symphonies in the world, at the press conference of ‘A Tribute to Beethoven’ at the Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou on December 17th, 2019. [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

‘A Tribute to Beethoven’ features 80 of Beethoven's major works in various forms, including 9 symphonies, 32 piano sonatas, 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, 16 string quartets, 5 piano concertos and 1 opera.

Seven topnotch bands and orchestras as well as over 500 artists from across the world including China, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the US will join the programme performing Beethoven's classic works to people in the city.

Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

At Guangzhou’s Xinghai Concert Hall, you will be able to enjoy a total of 16 performances including Beethoven’s symphonies, piano sonata, violin sonata and cello sonata. These performances will be staged by Asia’s foremost classical orchestra the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and helmed by one of today’s most sought-after conductors Jaap van Zweden, acclaimed violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos, renowned Beethoven specialist Rudolf Buchbinder, the Cello First Prize and Gold Medal winner of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition Narek Hakhnazaryan and many other established artists.

A stage photo of Beethoven's only opera ‘Fidelio’ [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

At Guangzhou’s Opera House, you won’t want to miss out on a chance to see Beethoven's only opera ‘Fidelio’, a masterpiece celebrating love and freedom, which will be brought to the stage by over 200 performers from Beethoven's birthplace, the German city of Bonn. Renowned Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky will perform all Beethoven's piano concertos, and the Shanghai Quartet, Artis-Quartet Wien and Brodsky Quartet will interpret Beethoven's complete string quartets.

Beethoven is arguably history’s greatest composer of symphonies. According to the Statistics of Classical Music in 2018 released by classical music website Bachtrack, Beethoven leads the top 10 most popular composers, followed by Mozart and Bernstein. Beethoven lived in Bonn for the first two decades of his life. The German pianist later settled in Vienna Europe’s capital of music at the time, where he died in 1827.

Xinghai Concert Hall [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

Highlights from the performance programme:

Beethoven’s Complete Cello Sonatas by Narek Hakhnazaryan & Oxana Shevchenko

Time: May 2nd-3rd, 2020

Venue: Chamber Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall

Ticket: RMB 300/200/100

Beethoven’s Complete Violin Sonatas by Leonidas Kavakos & Enrico Pace

Time: June 11th, 13th & 14th, 2020

Venue: Symphony Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall

Ticket: RMB 400/300/200/100

Beethoven’s Complete Piano Sonatas by Rudolf Buchbinder

Time: 8pm, Saturday, September 12th-19th, 2020

Venue: Symphony hall, Xinghai Concert Hall

The Complete Symphonies by Jaap van Zweden& Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Time: November 5th-8th,2020

Venue: Symphony hall, Xinghai Concert Hall

Guangzhou Opera House [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

Beethoven Complete String Quartets by Shanghai Quartet

Time: March 13th & 15th, 2020

Venue: Experimental Theater, Guangzhou Opera House

Orchestre de chambre de Paris & Boris Berezovsky: Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos

Time: May 24th, 2020

Venue: Opera House, Guangzhou Opera House

Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio: An Opera in Two Acts, Op. 72

Time: October 22nd & 24th, 2020

Venue: Opera House, Guangzhou Opera House

Beethoven Complete String Quartets by Artis-Quartet Wien

Time: October 30th & 31st, 2020

Venue: Experimental Theater, Guangzhou Opera House

Beethoven Complete String Quartets by Brodsky Quartet

Time: November 22nd , 2020

Venue: Experimental Theater, Guangzhou Opera House

Author: Monica Liu

Editor: Simon Haywood