Get ready for Norway's biggest celebration of Beethoven

Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (KSO) and the University of Agder (UiA) are presenting what appears to be Norway's largest celebration of the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth this fall.

Running from November 6-21, the festival includes eight of Beethoven's nine symphonies and much more.

- We are all very excited and looking forward to a hectic few weeks for the orchestra," says Chief Conductor of KSO, Nathalie Stutzmann.

Eight symphonies

Eight of Beethoven’s nine symphonies will be performed during the festival, and there will be a series of chamber concerts, lectures, and pre-concert talks.

– Beethoven is a brilliant composer, and his music is fantastic and, not least, innovative. It demands an incredible amount from the orchestras that perform it—sometimes too much. But we’ve been working on this for a long time now, so we’re ready, says Stutzmann.

See an overview of the entire program

Chamber concerts with students

Birthe Myrstad, Head of the Department of Classical Music and Music Education at UiA, is pleased with the collaboration, and not least with the fact that around 50 students will be involved in the various stages of the festival.

- The students have been working on this for a long time now, and have gone to great lengths. "This is the result of a multi-year focus on ensemble playing and chamber music, and many of us have been looking forward to this for a very long time now," says Myrstad.

Festival in spite of corona

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. Events both large and small had been planned around the world. Then COVID-19 struck, and the anniversary celebrations were canceled. The fact that the KSO and UiA decided to work around all possible restrictions to give the audience a full-fledged festival experience pleases the chief conductor:

– “From being a year full of Beethoven events, it long looked as though it would be a year completely without them. That’s why I think everyone will take even greater pleasure in the fact that we’re doing this,” says Stutzmann.

Text: Kjetil Nordhus