Fantastic festival

Despite its directness and unusual charachter, Beethoven's Eighth Symphony is less well known than many of the others, standing in the shadows of many of those that came before it - and even more so for those that came after.

But at this year's Beethoven Festival, conductor Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen convincingly demonstrated that this symphony has nothing to hide.

At this year's festival, the Kammerphilharmonie played Beethoven's Eighth - and also all of the other Beethoven Symphonies, in a four-day cycle. According to Festival Director Ilona Schmiel, the cycle was one of the high points of this year's festival:

"Uncompromising, transparent, highly charged"

“To experience the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Jarvi at this level here, after five or six long years of training - that is really a dream. Personally, I have never heard Beethoven's symphonies played in such fullness, in such an absolutely stirring, uncompromising, transparent and highly charged interpretation," she said.

But there were many other highlights to be seen, and above all, heard, such as Gustavo Dudamel with the Goeteborg Symfoniker, the City of Birmingham Orchestra under Andris Nelsons; Mauricio Pollini; Alexander Melnikov; Sol Gabetta ... the list goes on.

In addition to a varied and interesting music program, a traditional part of the Bonn festival is taking a look at films about Beethoven and his works. This year there was a new project as well. "Young Beethovenfestival" allowed 16 students to accompany the organizers for some 10 months and learn about putting a festival together. And with the help of festival organizers, the students organized two concerts themselves. Under the rubric of "Classic Meets Hip Hop," they involved the Minguet String Quartet and the "Gruppe einshoch6."

Those concerts were a hit with classical music fans and youth alike. And the people who got to participate in them found the experience enriching as well. Such high-level youth involvement is important for the festival's future, Schmiel contends.

"We really have to find many different ways to get students excited about us. And when we do projects like this, then it really can be that in the future, they will organize an orchestra concert and that is just as exciting - it is other music than hip hop. And ... that has the same effect when they notice how much detail and how much love, how many problems and challenges, go into every concert."

More stars ahead

Along with a new school project, the coming year will once more involve an array of stars like Kent Nagano, Andras Schiff, Sir Neville Marriner or Martin Grubinger. What is less certain, is whether or not Bonn's new Beethoven Festspielhaus will be the main festival venue. There is a strong division between those who are in favor of the new venue, and those that prefer the landmark Beethovenhalle. Schmiel says she can understand the concerns, but is committed to looking forward.

"The landmark building has something museum-like about it, and we aren't a museum - we're a festival. We will not be able to agree on this point. We live for the live experience, we live for the future. We keep tradition in mind and have a lot of respect for tradition, but we need the best conditions in order for our music to be heard on the stage."

Author: Klaus Gehrke (jen)
Editor: Andreas Illmer