Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia Presents: Love, Beethoven

Love, Beethoven is a journey through the composer’s heart: his passions, humanity, and abiding love of the natural world. Through music of drama, tenderness, and joy, this concert invites us to experience the many ways Beethoven expressed love.

Program

Ken-David Masur, guest conductor
Melinda Lee Masur, piano

BEETHOVEN  Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72c
BEETHOVEN  Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
BEETHOVEN  Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, Pastoral

About The Program
Guest conductor Ken-David Masur, known for his charismatic leadership and bold interpretations, and his wife and artistic partner, pianist Melinda Lee Masur, join forces in a program that reveals Beethoven at his most human, from heroic devotion to lyrical intimacy and profound love of nature. The Fidelio overture opens the evening with dramatic energy, drawn from Beethoven’s only opera and celebrating courage and steadfast love. Melinda Lee Masur, an internationally celebrated pianist and chamber musician, then takes center stage in the luminous Piano Concerto No. 4, whose graceful conversations between soloist and orchestra rank among Beethoven’s most poetic creations. Long understood as a metaphor for the Orpheus story, the second movement of the concerto depicts Orpheus attempting to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the underworld. The performance concludes with the beloved Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, a radiant portrait of the natural world, filled with joy and wonder.