Season Opener

Beethoven's masterful Ninth Symphony is the star of the season opener with the Colorado Symphony conducted by Peter Oundjian. Joined by the voices of the Colorado Symphony Chorus directed by Taylor Martin, Oundjian leads the orchestra through the glory of Beethoven's final work, following a pulsing performance of Gabriela Ortiz' Yanga. Ortiz' piece charts the extraordinary life of the Central African prince of the same name, who in the 1500s led a revolution of enslaved Africans in what is now Mexico.

Compositional Mastery

Often hailed as the most central work of Western classical music as well as 'the symphony to end all symphonies', Beethoven's Ninth is the apex of technical and compositional mastery as well as imagination. Composed and first performed in 1824, the Ninth would be Beethoven's final complete symphony, so it's fitting that it would contain his most well-known melody. Pushing the symphonic structure to its absolute limits, the epic journey immortalizes the unity of mankind and its place in the universe, culminating in the ever-popular and ebullient Ode To Joy finale.