Voices and instruments collaborate to create a timeless masterpiece. The Central Lakes Symphony Chorale will assemble and rehearse to join the orchestra for this grand performance.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London in 1823 but was first performed in Vienna. It is divided into four movements which was common at the time, but Beethoven changed the order of the second (usually slow) and third (usually fast) movements. Perhaps he did that to lead up to the grand final movement more dramatically. He added vocal soloists and choral singers for the first time in a symphony and used a larger orchestra than what was common at the time. The choral finale is Beethoven’s musical representation of universal brotherhood based on the “Ode to Joy” theme and is written in theme and variations form, each variation more complex than the previous.