Complete Beethoven cycle stages at Beijing Music Festival

World
Europe

It's holiday for Beethoven fans in China as the complete Beethoven symphonic cycle orchestrated in the Chinese capital for the first time at the Beijing Music Festival or BMF.

Until Thursday, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Bremen German Chamber Philharmonic) and Estonian conductor Paavo Jarvi will be staging four Beethoven Cycle concerts at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, commemorating the 190th anniversary of the composer's death.

Bringing the Beethoven feast to BMF is especially meaningful this year as 2017 marks the festival's 20th anniversary, according to Jarvi.

Estonian conductor Paavo Jarvi /Photo via weibo.com

At a press event, the conductor told media that when he first began working with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen more than 20 years ago, the orchestra's understanding and interpretation of Beethoven's works made him realize that they were the perfect partners with which to record the classic musician's symphonies.

"Their Beethoven interpretations have been acclaimed worldwide by audiences and critics alike as benchmark performances," according to Harrison Parrott, an international artist and project management agency working in the field of classical music.

BMF program director Tu Song noted that this is the first time that the Beethoven Cycle has been staged in Beijing in the last three decades.

As one of the most well-known musicians in the world, Beethoven is especially popular in China for his symphony works from "Eroica" to "Fate."

(Header image courtesy of BMF via Global Times)

1km

Source(s): Global Times