The City of Philadelphia has prohibited all gatherings of more than 1,000 people for 30 days in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. All scheduled Philadelphia Orchestra rehearsals, performances, and events through April 11, 2020, are therefore cancelled. The health and safety of all is our top priority.
This impacts the following performances at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Academy of Music:
- BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 5 & 6 (March 12, 14, and 15)
- BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 2 & 3 (March 19, 21, and 22)
- Sound All Around: Ensemble (March 21 and 23)
- BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 8, 4, & 7 (March 27–29)
- BeethovenNOW: Symphonies 1 & 9 (April 2–5)
Options if you have tickets to a cancelled event:
- Exchange your tickets to an upcoming performance. To offer increased flexibility, we are waiving all ticket exchange fees through May 2, 2020.
- Donate your tickets. You will receive a tax receipt for your generous contribution.
- Please contact Patron Services to discuss additional options.
Ticket exchanges and donations can be completed in My Account, or by contacting Patron Services at 215-893-1999 or patronservices@ticketphiladelphia.org.
Please contact Group Sales at 215-893-1968 with any group ticket questions.
GO TO MY ACCOUNT
Please be aware that Patron Services are responding to a high volume of emails and your inquiry may take longer than normal to answer. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
PROGRAM
Beethoven Symphony No. 2
Hunt Climb WORLD PREMIERE - PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA COMMISSION
INTERMISSION
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")
Program Notes
Beethoven was just beginning to go deaf when he wrote his Second Symphony and though he was losing his hearing, he was finding his voice. He could have composed a manifestation of despair, but instead gave the world one of his most ebullient and life-affirming works. The Third Symphony was groundbreaking, a turning point in the composer's oeuvre and a watershed in musical history. A vast ode to heroism, revolution, and freedom, the “Eroica” is considered by many to be the greatest not just of Beethoven's symphonies, but of all time. Composer Jessica Hunt draws inspiration from Beethoven’s personal struggles and relates them to her own experience living with chronic illness in the premiere of Climb.
Hunt on Climb
Between composing his Second and Third symphonies, Beethoven wrote his “Heiligenstadt Testament,” a vividly compelling account of his secret physical and psychological torment as he struggled with the deterioration of his health and hearing. The first time I read that document, Beethoven’s isolation, fear, and diminishing hope leapt off the page and pierced my heart. I recognized those fears, that anguish; they resonate deeply within my own chronically ill body. Climb is a letter-through-time to Beethoven to express my gratitude for his work and to express our silent kinship.