Jüri Reinvere
Excerpts from Minona

Mirjam Tally
Lament

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

AILE ASSZONYI soprano
KAI RÜÜTEL mezzo-soprano
MATI TURI tenor
EGILS SILIŅŠ bass
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor OLARI ELTS

In cooperation with ENSO

The concert is sold out!
We kindly ask you to enjoy the concert via EPCC.TV and Klassikaraadio.

 

‘Grand final’ will sum up the season dedicated to the 250th birthday of Beethoven in a spectacular way, and we very much hope that it will also mark the end of the difficult and challenging period of restrictions.

Olari Elts, the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of ERSO, will conduct the concert, at which the work of Ludwig van Beethoven as well as modern perspectives thereof will be performed. The main work of the concert is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 – a summary of the work of the grand master which was simultaneously the powerful end note of his glorious development and the piece showing the way into the new era, Romanticism. The finale of the symphony is an ode to joy and brotherhood (lyrics by Friedrich Schiller) performed by soloists and a choir, which reflects the endless faith and hope of humanity for a better tomorrow. However, it reminds us that we have to take responsibility for our actions:
Endure bravely, millions!
Endure for the better world!
Up beyond the starry firmament
a great god will reward.
Against gods you can’t retaliate,
it’s nice to be as them.
Grief and poverty shall come forward
to rejoice with the happy ones.
Grudge and revenge be forgotten,
our deadly enemy be forgiven.
No tear shall force him,
no remorse may gnaw on him.

In addition to Beethoven’s own masterpiece, two works inspired by Beethoven will be premiered in Estonia. At first, listeners can enjoy excerpts from Jüri Reinvere’s latest opera Minona, which premiered at the Regensburg Theatre in Germany last year, in which a very probable story about Beethoven’s connections with Estonia and his daughter Minona, who grew up here, unfolds based on historical facts. The second surprise to the Estonian audience is Lament by Mirjam Tally, which was inspired by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The orchestral work was commissioned by the concert series Beethoven & Beyond in Sweden in 2014. All nine of Beethoven’s symphonies and Beethoven-inspired music from nine composers were performed during the series which lasted for a week and a half.

The soloists in Reinvere’s Minona and the famous final movement Ode to Joy of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 are the internationally renowned Estonian singers soprano Aile Asszonyi, mezzo-soprano Kai Rüütel, tenor Mati Turi, and Latvian bass-baritone Egils Siliņš, who is constantly performing on prestigious European theatre stages.