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St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Gemma New

Singer

Soprano

Susanna Phillips

Mezzo-soprano

Sasha Cooke

Tenor

Jamez McCorkle

Bass-baritone

Brandon Cedel

Orchestra

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

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St. Louis Symphony Chorus

Beethoven's Ninth

St. Louis

United States

Stifel Theatre

Public

Private

Concert

9th Symphony

Hymn to the Sun

Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 (arr. Elgar)

Saurav Kumar

Approved

In a cramped apartment, a man hunches over papers. At 52, Beethoven looks older—he is in constant pain, and rarely appears in public. He is poring over a copy of the popular poem “Ode to Joy” by Friedrich Schiller. His new symphony will be an ambitious, experimental, political work. It will be without precedent, written for orchestra, chorus, and soloists. Its joyful celebration of community will cross the globe. It will change music forever. 
 
A few things to know: 
Beethoven was a passionate progressive. He resisted divisions in society. His Ninth Symphony sets a poem that links joy with friendship, with kinship: “All men shall become brothers/Wherever [joy’s] gentle wings hover.” Seeing hatred and division, Beethoven responded with optimism.  
Gemma New was the SLSO’s Resident Conductor for four seasons. “We come to this concert of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony from our everyday lives,” says New, “with our many daily challenges. We come to be transformed together. And we all unite in listening to this music and being moved by it.” 
Kevin Puts’ radiant Hymn to the Sun is inspired by an ancient Egyptian appeal to the godlike sun. “I imagined a wild, sacred dance to call forth the sun and all its powers,” says Puts. “The image of the sun’s rays binding all the lands is particularly moving to me in the context of today’s tense global climate.”

English

Beethoven's Ninth by Beethoven, Puts, Elgar, From (2025/2025), Conductor Gemma New, Stifel Theatre, St. Louis, United States

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