National Symphony Orchestra to Presents BEETHOVEN & AMERICAN MASTERS Festival

The National Symphony Orchestra will present Beethoven & American Masters, a three-week festival featuring concerts that belatedly celebrate the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. Led by Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, the concerts pair symphonies by Beethoven with works by 20th-century American composers William Grant Still and George Walker. Complementing the concerts is a new exhibit by the Kennedy Center's first Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems, titled Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted. Individual tickets to the concerts are available for purchase on the Kennedy Center's website.

BEETHOVEN & AMERICAN MASTERS: NOSEDA & NSO CONCERTS

The Beethoven & American Masters Festival begins with concerts on January 13, 15, and 16 in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. The first program opens with Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 and closes with his Symphony No. 5, which is instantly recognizable from its opening motif. In between these two well-known works, the NSO will perform Sinfonia No. 1 by George Walker. A native of Washington, D.C., Walker is widely known as a groundbreaking composer who fused many styles and as the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996.

From January 20-22, the concerts continue by juxtaposing two Fourth Symphonies: Beethoven's and William Grant Still's. Hailing from Mississippi, Still was a prolific composer who wrote approximately 200 works and became the first Black composer to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra. He was associated with some of the most prominent Black figures in culture and literature and was considered part of the Harlem Renaissance that drove African American arts, fashion, and politics between the 1920s-1930s. Still's Symphony No. 4 anchors the program, which opens with Beethoven's Leonore III Overture-originally discarded by the composer for being too grand as an opera overture-and closes with Beethoven's Symphony No. 4-a work celebrated by his contemporaries, such as Mendelssohn and Schumann, but nowadays perhaps overlooked against his better-known symphonies.

From January 27-29, the final set of concerts begins with Beethoven's Overture to The Consecration of the House-a grand piece written as an independent concert work that was performed at the premiere of his epic Symphony No. 9 in 1824. Walker is again showcased with his one-movement work Sinfonia No. 4, originally co-commissioned by the NSO. Fittingly, the program closes with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, the work that ushered in a new era of symphonies and whose famous choral finale ("Ode to Joy") still serves as a symbol of hope and unity worldwide. The Washington Chorus joins the NSO for these concerts.

"The artists of the NSO and I are thrilled to present a festival where four of Beethoven's timeless symphonies are performed alongside masterpieces by trailblazing American composers William Grant Still and George Walker," stated NSO Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. "These composers were craftsmen of the highest order and created a sound reflecting their eras. I'm very excited about next month and expect these concerts to be a revelation for both us and the audience."

The January concerts represent part one of a two-part festival. The remaining Beethoven Symphonies and Walker Sinfonias, plus another Still Symphony, will be performed over a four-week period in the spring of 2023. All concerts will be recorded live in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall for future release on the NSO's record label, distributed in partnership with LSO Live.

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES ABSTRACTED: EXHIBIT BY MO WILLEMS

To accompany the Beethoven & American Masters concert series, author and illustrator Mo Willems will debut an exhibition of nine large-scale, painted abstractions inspired by the music and genius of Beethoven, entitled Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted. Each large-scale work is a response to one of Beethoven's nine symphonies, divided into panels that visually interpret each symphonic movement. The length of the movement determines the size of the panel, and so the length of the symphony determines the size of the painted abstraction. Taken as a whole, the nine works' visual elements change and grow, reflecting the dynamic changes inherent in Beethoven's symphonic career. But, at the center of everything is the circle, symbolizing the journey of musical notes.

Willems' exhibit is designed to invite audiences to experience Beethoven in a new way-as listeners and also viewers. In addition to the exhibition, NSO concert attendees will receive a limited-edition commemorative Concert Art Exhibition Catalogue of all the abstractions as a special keepsake and to reference and reflect upon as the symphonies are performed during each concert.

"Beethoven's magnificent work invites contemplation and participation. Symphonic music is an abstraction to be discovered," says Willems. "Like all abstraction, the artist may create the work, but the audience creates the meaning and that meaning can change over time."

The nine works will be on display from January 8-March 20 in the Hall of Nations during the Center's public operating hours. The painted abstractions associated with Symphony No. 1 through 8 are each 60 1/4" x 40 1/4" (height by width), while the longest symphony-Symphony No. 9-is larger at 74 1/8" x 40 1/4". Willems provides his own notes and context in the exhibit, but viewers are encouraged to seek out their own interpretations of both art and music.

BEETHOVEN & AMERICAN MASTERS FESTIVAL - PART I SCHEDULE

Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Saturday, January 15, 2022 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 3 p.m.

National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 1
George Walker Sinfonia No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Famed for its iconic four-note opening, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is one of the most well-known and influential pieces of music. Imaginative, violent, and wide-ranging, the colossal crowd-pleaser immerses the audience in Beethoven's state of mind with dramatic tension that builds to a passionate climax. The program also includes the First Sinfonia by George Walker, a Washington, D.C. native and the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 7 p.m.
Friday, January 21, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. - Coffee Concert
Saturday, January 22, 2022 at 8 p.m.
National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Ludwig van Beethoven Overture - Leonore III
William Grant Still Symphony No. 4
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4

Gianandrea Noseda leads the National Symphony Orchestra in the Fourth Symphony by William Grant Still-the first Black composer to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra and to conduct a major American symphony orchestra.

To close, Beethoven's Fourth Symphony starts small but grows into a giant. Upon first hearing the masterpiece, a 26-year-old Robert Schumann was so enthralled that he "sat in place without moving a muscle or even breathing."

Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 7 p.m.
Friday, January 28, 2022 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 8 p.m.
National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Camilla Tilling, soprano

Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano

Issachah Savage, tenor

Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone

The Washington Chorus

Eugene Rogers, Artistic Director

Ludwig van Beethoven The Consecration of the House - Overture
George Walker Sinfonia No. 4
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9

Beethoven's epic Ninth is the symphony by which all others are measured. Witness the vast cosmic drama of this groundbreaking piece-the first symphony to include chorus it its orchestration. With its grand emotional melodies and tremendous final "Ode to Joy," Beethoven's final symphony resounds as loudly today as it did two centuries ago.

This program also includes the Fourth Sinfonia by George Walker, originally co-commissioned by the NSO.

Artists and performances are subject to change.

Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted

Exhibit by Mo Willems

Saturday, January 8-Sunday, March 20, 2022

Hall of Nations

Author, illustrator, and Inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems exhibits a series of large-scale abstractions inspired by the music and genius of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Beethoven & American Masters Opening Night Soirée

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Opening Night sponsors will enjoy a private exhibit tour, intimate pre-show dinner, prime concert tickets, and a celebratory party after the concert with Maestro Noseda, Mo Willems, and musicians of the NSO. Sponsorships begin at $5,000. A limited number of $500 passes are available for the concert and post-concert party only.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to the NSO concerts ($15-$109) are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, online at kennedy-center.org, and via phone through Instant Charge, (202) 467-4600; toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquires, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

Opening Night Soirée sponsorship tickets range from $500-$15,000 and can be reserved through the Development Office by emailing NSOCircles@kennedy-center.org.

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