Now’s the time to brush up on your Beethoven. Next summer, from August 12-15, 2020, The Philadelphia Orchestra, under Music Director and Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, will be presenting Beethoven’s complete symphonic cycle in celebration of the composer’s 250th birthday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs. The complete cycle will be performed over just four consecutive days. To put that into perspective, the orchestra will be performing the same run at Carnegie Hall, but over the course of several weeks. “Traversing the complete symphonies of Beethoven is a profound and deeply moving musical experience,” says Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of SPAC. “To hear them under the baton of the great Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in such a concentrated period, will be an artistic experience unlike anything we have ever presented at SPAC.”
Below, is a full schedule of when each of the symphonies will be performed (each performance will also be accompanied by a commissioned lecture, covering some aspect of Beethoven’s work):
Wednesday, August 12th
Beethoven: Symphony No.8
Beethoven: Symphony No.4
Beethoven: Symphony No.7
Thursday, August 13th
Beethoven: Symphony No.2
Beethoven: Symphony No.3 (“Eroica”)
Friday, August 14th
Beethoven: Symphony No.5
Beethoven: Symphony No.6 (“Pastoral”)
Saturday, August 15th
Beethoven: Symphony No.1
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 (“Choral”)
A special Beethoven 2020 Pass for all four programs can be purchased here.
