BEETHOVEN’S NINTH / MK

New Year’s concert

AARON COPLAND

Fanfare for the common man

VIKTOR ULLMANN

Slavonic Rhapsody, Op. 23

LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Kateřina Kněžíková soprano

Jana Hrochová alto

Richard Samek tenor

Roman Janál bass

Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno

choir director Petr Fiala

Brno Philharmonic

conductor Dennis Russell Davies

• The Brno Philharmonic’s traditional New Year’s concert comes back to the Janáček Theatre after two years away, a symbolic start for what could be called Beethoven Year, the 250^th anniversary of Ludwig’s birth ● Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony has become a universal message of peace and understanding among nations ● Here, it is presented in an eloquent combination with the music of Czech-Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann, a victim of the Nazi regime ● Ullmann’s Slavonic Rhapsody for orchestra and saxophone obbligato was written in 1940. It’s a work strongly influenced by Moravian and Slovak folk music and was premiered as late as 14 June 1991 in Bonn by the Beethoven-Halle Orchestra and saxophonist John Edward Kelly, under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies

Download the program here

Cast orchestra here