The 2020 music calendar celebrates Beethoven’s 250th birthday

The Beethoven concert that Korean music fans are most looking forward to is Musica Aeterna’s performance conducted by Teodor Currentzis, which will be held on April 7 and 8 next year at the Lotte Concert Hall. Being called the “classical rebel” or “savior of classical music,” Currentzis is a “hip” conductor who is taking the world by storm. His path to becoming a conductor was nothing like his contemporaries. He created his own orchestra called “Musica Aeterna” after practicing conducting techniques in Russia and has captured the imagination of global music fans since then with his dynamic and fresh interpretation.

Even Kirill Petrenko, the chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, paled in comparison to the eccentric maestro at this year’s Salzburg Festival and the Lucerne Festival. Musica Aeterna will play Symphony No. 7 on the first day and Symphony No. 5 “Of Destiny” on the second day. Another piece on the program is a Violin Concerto featuring violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja who is also known for her unconventional performance.

The Beethoven Orchester Bonn comes to South Korea for “All Beethoven” at the Seoul Arts Center on June 9. It will play the overture of Egmont, Symphony No. 7 and Piano Concert No. 4 with pianist Paik Kun-woo under conductor Dirk Kaftan who became the general music director of the orchestra in 2017.

Pianist Rudolf Buchbinder who is an authority on Beethoven will conduct a performance by Lucerne Festival Strings and play an entire Piano Concerto at the Seoul Arts Center on September 23 and 26, while Paavo Järvi and his Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen will play Symphony No. 1 and No. 9 “Choral” on December 17 and 18 to wrap up the year.

In the meantime, on the global music scene, the famous Salzburg Festival, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, will present a varied program of Beethoven. Pianist Igor Levit will play all of 32 Piano Sonatas by Beethoven over the course of eight recitals from July 29 to August 16.


gustav@donga.com