1807: Passion

2027 marks the bicentennial of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death. Over the course of a three-year concert tour, conductor Jan Caeyers and American and star pianist Kit Armstrong will perform Beethoven’s 27 most important concertos in all 27 European countries. In this concert, Jan Caeyers conducts two works by Beethoven that were premiered at the famous Akademie on 22 December 1808, the high point of his career in Vienna. They are closely linked by the famous four-note ‘fate motif’. They are both complementary and contrasting: Piano Concerto No. 4 is lyrical, poetic and contemplative, whilst the Fifth Symphony is dramatic, high-energy and ecstatic. These two extremes clearly illustrate the essence of Beethoven’s so-called ‘heroic style’. As with all concerts in the Beethoven27 project, Kit Armstrong will begin the evening with a Prelude and Fugue from Bach’s Wohltemperierte Klavier. Bio Kit Armstrong is regarded as one of the leading pianists of our time. Like Beethoven, he is both a piano virtuoso, having performed with the world’s leading orchestras, and a prolific composer, having written more than seventy works by the age of thirty. Programme Johann Sebastian Bach, Prelude and fugue no. 15 from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, BWV 885Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano concerto no. 4, op. 58Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano sonata no. 23, op. 57, AppassionataLudwig van Beethoven, Symphony no. 5, op. 67 --------------------------- >>> This concert is part of the highlight Man man man. A programme about masculinity in all its forms. Boys, men, fathers, and sons find themselves at a turning point. Traditional images of manhood are being questioned, while new forms of masculinity are still taking shape. In this programme, we explore questions and answers in order to arrive at a healthy, inclusive, and free way of being a man.