Sunday 6 June 2021
Broadcast live on 2 video walls in the Megaron Garden
Megaron the Athens Concert Hall, musicAeterna orchestra under Teodor Currentzis, and choreographer Sasha Waltz, take part in the major musical event of ARTE TV channel, presenting Ludwig van Beethoven’s Seventh at the Ancient Theatre of Delphi in a concert broadcast live across Europe
On Sunday 6 June, Europe celebrates Ludwig van Beethoven and his 9 Symphonies, in with 9 concerts given in 9 cities, in a major artistic event that will be broadcast live across Europe. The broadcast will begin at 14:00 (Greek time) from Bonn, the birthplace of the great German composer, and will be completed at 23:00, again in Vienna, where Beethoven left his last breath. Megaron the Athens Concert Hall takes part in this rare pan – European musical event, made possible by the Franco-German ARTE television channel in partnership with ZDF (the German State Television) and Unitel, a leading international distributor of classical music television productions, “travelling” outside Greece to present, from the emblematic Ancient Theatre of Delphi, at 20:00, Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92, with internationally acclaimed Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis leading musicAeterna. Sasha Waltz, one of the major figures of contemporary dance, teams up with the world-famous ensemble with a new choreography created especially for the concert at Delphi.
Megaron will offer the Athenian public the opportunity to view, free of charge, the complete broadcast of all the concerts in real time, from two videowalls in its Garden. The flow of visitors will be controlled by means of priority passes. Viewing will be restricted to a limited number of spectators, in line with public health guidelines.
The concerts will also be available to stream live on the Megaron website.
The concert takes place thanks to the support of the Region of Central Greece, the World Human Forum, the Centre Culturel Hellénique in Paris, and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi, accommodation and rehearsal areas free of charge, Megaron wishes to thank the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Central Archaeological Council for their valuable assistance in making this concert possible, as well as the Ephorate of Antiquities of Fokida for granting use of the Ancient Theatre of Delphi.
Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92
Beethoven finished composing the Seventh in 1812 and the work was premiered in Vienna one year later, with the conductor himself at the podium, in a charity concert for those injured at the Battle of Hanau, in which the Austrians and the Bavarians were defeated by Napoleon’s army. The premiere of the work, which expresses the composer’s profound patriotism and is a tribute to the men who had fallen in the battlefield, was spectacularly successful, while the symphony itself had a huge influence on many of Ludwig van Beethoven’s younger fellow-musicians, such as Richard Wagner, who called it the “apotheosis of dance”.
9 cities – 9 concerts – 9 Symphonies
On Sunday 6 June, the journey to the magnificent world of Beethoven’s music begins at 14:00 (Greek time) from Bonn in Germany, with the First Symphony, performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Harding, and continues at 15:00 with the Second Symphony, presented in Dublin (Ireland) by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with Jaime Martin at the podium. The journey’s next stops are Helsinki, where at 16:00 Nicholas Collon will conduct the Finish Radio Symphony Orchestra in “Eroica”; Luxembourg, where the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg will play Symphony No. 4 under Gustavo Gimeno; and Prague, where the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Steven Mercurio perform the celebrated Fifth Symphony (18:00). At 19:00 it is the turn of Lugano, where the Swiss Chamber Orchestra I Barocchisti under the direction of Diego Fasolis will present the widely popular “Pastorale”. At 20:00, the baton passes to Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna, who perform the Seventh Symphony at the Ancient Theatre of Delphi, while one hour later all eyes turn to Strasbourg (France), where the city’s Philharmonic Orchestra under Marko Letonja presents Symphony No. 8. The last stop of our journey is Vienna, the capital of Austria, for Beethoven’s masterly Ninth (20:00), with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the musical direction of the conductor of Greek descent Karina Canellakis.
The broadcast from each of the nine cities will be introduced by a short video, an audiovisual “postcard” presented by a journalist from the corresponding country, who will help viewers familiarise themselves with the background and the musical setting of each Symphony, while enjoying views of enchanting landscapes and sights of each region. The Greek “postcard” will be presented by journalist Lena Aroni.
With the support of
the European Cultural Centre of Delphi
the World Human Forum
and the Paris Centre Culturel Hellénique