A Different Perspective: Boston Baroque's Season-Opening Beethoven 9th | November 8-10, 2013

BOSTON - Oct. 10, 2013 - PRLog -- Boston Baroque and its Founder/Music Director, Martin Pearlman, have chosen to acknowledge a monumental moment in their history with a monument of music: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, popularly known as the “Choral” Symphony, which concludes with the uplifting "Ode to Joy."

The opening concerts of Boston Baroque’s 40^th Anniversary Season will offer the ensemble’s first-ever performances of Beethoven’s last symphony, paired with his rarely-heard "Elegischer Gesang" ("Elegiac Song"). The Boston Baroque Chorus and Orchestra will be joined by vocal soloists Leah Partridge (soprano), Ann McMahon Quintero (mezzo-soprano), William Burden (tenor) and Kevin Deas (bass) for performances on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9 at 8 PM at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston.

“Boston Baroque’s perspective on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony will be different from that of a modern symphony orchestra,” says Martin Pearlman. “An orchestra that performs Mahler and Strauss looks back when it plays Beethoven, whereas Boston Baroque, approaching the work from an early music perspective – as, indeed, did the musicians of Beethoven’s time – can offer a forward look. Our performance will emphasize the revolutionary aspects of Beethoven’s achievement; he stretched the instruments of the orchestra – and voices, too – to their limits. Take some of the woodwind and horn passages, for example: we are used to hearing them played on modern instruments, where they are impressive enough; but on period instruments, such as natural horns, you can really feel Beethoven stretching them to their utmost, producing a sound and color quite wonderful and different.”

Mr. Pearlman continues, “Expanding our repertoire to the threshold of the modern orchestra with Beethoven’s Ninth – the only one of his symphonies that we have not yet performed – seemed a fitting way to celebrate our 40^th anniversary…even as we look back, we look forward.”

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

Sunday, November 10, 2013, 2 PM, Strand Theatre, Dorchester

Honoring the spirit of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy), the text Beethoven chose for the finale, Boston Baroque will present a free performance of the Ninth Symphony for the Boston community, at the historic 1400-seat Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road in Dorchester, on Sunday, November 10 at 2 PM. The concert, sponsored by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who will serve as host, and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events, is also made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Free For All Concert Fund.

Boston Baroque’s Executive Director, Miguel Rodriguez says, “For our 40th Anniversary Season, we look forward to expanding Boston Baroque’s presence beyond the traditional concert hall by presenting an accessible program with period instruments to new audiences and communities in urban Boston.”

“Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is the perfect vehicle to give back to the community,” adds Martin Pearlman, “and we are committed to making this an annual event.”

“I’m proud of all the hard work that’s gone into the renovation and re-opening of the Strand,” Mayor Menino says. “Organizations are recognizing the Strand as an important venue for the performing arts and a valuable resource for all the people of Boston. I’m pleased to welcome Boston Baroque for its performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.”


About Boston Baroque

Boston Baroque is the first permanent Baroque orchestra established in North America and is widely regarded as being among the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles. Founded in 1973 as Banchetto Musicale by Music Director Martin Pearlman, the Boston Baroque orchestra is made up of some of the finest period-instrument players in the U.S.; they are frequently joined by the company’s professional chorus and by instrumental and vocal soloists from around the world. The ensemble presents an annual subscription series of five programs that are performed at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall or Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, plus occasional additional concerts at other venues.

Boston Baroque also reaches an audience of millions of listeners around the globe with more than 20 critically-acclaimed recordings, which have been recognized with three Grammy® nominations. With the 2012 release of Haydn’s Creation, Boston Baroque began a new recording relationship with the audiophile European label Linn Records, named by Gramophone as Label of the Year in 2010.

Boston Baroque made an acclaimed appearance in 2009 with two programs at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 to a sold-out crowd and standing ovation in New York’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in March 2010. The ensemble made its European debut in 2003, performing Handel’s Messiah to capacity crowds in Krakow and Warsaw, Poland, and toured the Vespers to Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and Tanglewood in 2004.

About Martin Pearlman

Martin Pearlman, founder and continuing Music Director of Boston Baroque, is a conductor, harpsichordist, composer and early-music specialist, and is one of America’s leading interpreters of Baroque and Classical music. Highlights of his work include the complete Monteverdi opera cycle, with his own new performing editions of The Coronation of Poppea and The Return of Ulysses; the American premiere of Rameau’s Zoroastre; Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Alceste; a survey of Beethoven symphonies on period instruments; major Handel operas including Alcina, Agrippina, Semele, Xerxes and Partenope; and a Mozart series including Abduction from the Seraglio, The Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte and the North American period instrument premiere of Don Giovanni.

Mr. Pearlman made his Kennedy Center debut with The Washington Opera in Handel’s Semele, and has guest conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Utah Opera, Opera Columbus, Boston Lyric Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and New World Symphony. Recent compositions by Mr. Pearlman include The Creation according to Orpheus for solo piano, harp, percussion and string orchestra; and music for three plays of Samuel Beckett, commissioned by and premiered at New York’s 92nd Street Y and performed in Cambridge in 2007. Writing in the Boston Globe, Anthony Tommasini said: “If fans of Boston Baroque wonder why Pearlman’s conducting is so insightful, it’s because he knows, as only a composer can, how music goes.”

Mr. Pearlman is Professor of Music in Historical Performance at the Boston University School of Music.

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