Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony To Be Performed in Berryville, April 26
“A masterpiece of classical music”
This April, nearly 100 professional performers and singers will present Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony for the first time in the area. The Main Street Chamber Orchestra will be joined by the Piedmont Singers and the Winchester Musica Vivia along with four soloists. The symphony will be presented on Saturday, April 26, at 4 p.m. at the Johnson-Williams Middle School (200 Swan Avenue) in Berryville, VA. More information is available at mainstreetchamberorchestra.org or (202) 255-3294. Tickets are $35 for adults and free to those 18 and younger.
Beethoven’s Ninth was his last complete symphony. He was completely deaf when the work premiered in Vienna, Austria, in 1824, when he was 53 years old. He didn’t realize until he was turned to face the audience that they were standing, clapping, and shouting. As his final symphony, it’s one of the most frequently performed in the world and offers a message of unity and peace. Its creativity resonates to this day and is considered one of classical music’s most difficult to perform symphonies. In a 2010 book review in the London Daily Telegraph, Philip Hensher said, “The work culminated Beethoven’s life and resonated throughout the 19th century and beyond like a bomb, and its effects are still with us. It was the work that took the classical symphonic form to a breaking point and the one that initiated all sorts of notions of Romantic subjectivity and narrative. It is, appropriately, still absolute murder to perform.”
Jon Goldberg is the music director and conductor of the Main Street Chamber Orchestra, a professional ensemble and 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization based in Berryville. He founded the orchestra in 2020, and its performances have regularly won standing ovations. “The orchestra wanted to bring this extraordinary music to the communities in our region,” he said. “It’s Beethoven saying, ‘All of us on this earth share a common humanity, and we long for peace.’ We plan to fill the house on April 26 in a grand celebration of life and the beauty and renewal of the springtime.”
Also known as the Choral Symphony, singers from the Piedmont Singers and Winchester Musica Viva under the direction of Wendy Oesterling will join four soloists in raising their voices in the famous “Ode to Joy” in the final movement. The symphony is the first work by a major composer to include vocal parts, and the “Ode to Joy” finale was adapted by the European Union as its anthem in 1985.
The concert will be performed the same weekend as Winchester’s famous Apple Blossom Festival and Virginia’s Garden Week tours in Clarke County.
The Main Street Chamber Orchestra offers three or four performances a year, including a free family concert to encourage young people to learn about classical music. Past performances have included Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, Handel’s Messiah Part I, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, featuring concert pianist Brian Ganz. To learn more about the MSCO, visit mainstreetchamberorchestra.org or contact Jon Goldberg at [email protected].
Photos courtesy of Main Street Chamber Orchestra.