Beethoven Festival IX – Beethoven and Wennäkoski

In his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven gives expression to a universal human triumph. Symbolically, the music moves from minor to major. The Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski has said of Beethoven’s music that it has the power to create insights that deepen our understanding of human reality. As an opening, we hear her acclaimed Flounce.

At the premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 1824, the by then deaf composer had to be turned towards the audience to witness the applause and jubilation. The success was immense, and it soon became clear that Beethoven had created a work for the future – one that would open new paths for the development of art music.

Lotta Wennäkoski has established herself as one of Finland’s most prominent composers. Her orchestral work Flounce, which opens the concert, was premiered under the direction of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s former Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo at the Last Night of the Proms in 2017. It is imaginative music in which motoric energy is combined with lightness, space and clarity.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and vocal soloists bring the Beethoven Festival to a close under the direction of Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft