This year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, and a feast of events around the world had been planned to celebrate the milestone. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 has messed up the celebratory year, with many events canceled.
Now classical music fans in Shenzhen will enjoy nine concerts of Beethoven’s music in various forms at the Mountain View Theater in Shekou.
Photos from WeChat account “招商蛇口演艺互联”
Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. The early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. His middle period, sometimes characterized as “heroic,” showed an individual development from the classical styles of Haydn and Mozart, typically covers the years 1802 to 1812, during which time he increasingly suffered from deafness. In the late period from 1812 to his death in 1827, he expanded his innovations in musical form and expression.
Piano trio concert
DNA Trio, comprising pianist Zhang Jialin, violinist Zhang Jingzhi and cellist Song Zhao, will present the piano trio version of “Symphony No. 2” and “Piano Trio No. 5.” Beethoven expanded the piano trio genre beyond all recognition, using his relentless creativity to exploit the piano trio to its full potential.
Time: 8 p.m., Oct. 16
Piano trio concert
DNA Trio will also present Beethoven’s “Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3” and “Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97.”
Time: 8 p.m., Oct. 17
Lieder recital
Bi Baoyi, director of the Arts Center of Southern University of Science and Technology, will sing lieder by Beethoven. Japanese pianist Kaori Kitamura will accompany her.
Beethoven’s importance as the creator of symphonies, piano sonatas, violin sonatas and a multitude of brilliant chamber music works is so immense that for a long time his lieder output remained relatively uncelebrated. However, Beethoven’s lieder universe contains an abundance of musical beauties, and through their texts he offers today’s listeners a variety of insights into the intellectual, imaginative and emotional world of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Time: 8 p.m., Oct. 31
String quartet concert
China Conservatory of Music professor Huang Bin will collaborate with her musician friends, Wang Xiaomao, Liu Zizheng and Shi Xin, to present four of Beethoven’s string quartets.
Beethoven’s 16 string quartets are highly acclaimed: No. 1-6 are thought to demonstrate his total mastery of the classical string quartet as developed by Haydn and Mozart. No. 7-11 greatly expanded the form and incorporated a new degree of emotional sensitivity and drama. No. 12-16 are widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions ever written, with uncompromising intellectual complexity and apparent rejection of the romantic pathos.
Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 7 (string quartet No. 7 & 11), Nov. 8 (string quartet No. 10 & 13)
Piano sonatas
Central Conservatory of Music professor Sheng Yuan will play Beethoven’s piano sonatas No. 30-32. Beethoven was the first to show how much power and variety of expression could be drawn forth from this singular instrument.
Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 14
Complete violin sonatas
Violinist Huang, who won the Paganini International Violin Competition in 1994, will play all 10 violin sonatas by Beethoven in three concerts. Pianist Sheng will accompany her. The 10 violin sonatas sit at the heart of the repertoire for violin and piano. They are time-honored favorites of violinists, pianists and music lovers and reflect the great composer’s determination to create a more even and intricate balance between the two instruments than had previously existed in the genre.
Time: 3 p.m. (sonatas No. 1-3, 7), 8 p.m. (sonatas No. 6, 8-9), Dec. 26; 8 p.m. (sonatas No. 4-5, 10), Dec. 27
Tickets: 380-480 yuan
Venue: Mountain View Theater, 3/F, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Nanshan District (南山区海上世界文化艺术中心三楼境山剧场)
Metro: Line 2 to Sea World Station (海上世界站), Exit A
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