Roll Over Beethoven

Last night I was at Symphony Hall for an evening of Beethoven.  It's not often I go to classical events but every now and again I do enjoy it and last night was no exception, opting to sit in the gods so as to be able to take in the whole stage below.

Performed by The Royal Philharmonic and Birmingham Symphony Choir and conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, the programme consisted of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No5 (Emperor) and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (hence the choir).

Ronan O'Hora (piano) was fantastic and from my vantage point I was able to watch his hands on the keyboard.  I had not heard the piano concerto prior to last night (my knowledge of classical music being limited) but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The first movement being my favourite.

Beethoven isn't something I'd necessarily play at home but to see the Ninth Symphony performed live is pretty special.  When the choir starts singing it takes your breath away.  Last night they sounded fantastic!  To look down upon the stage with the orchestra playing and the choir singing really is a sight to behold.

There were some changes last night, Catrin Aur (soprano), Carolyn Dobbin (mezzo), Jesús León (tenor) and Leigh Melrose (bass) were scheduled to perform  but I believe illness forced a couple of changes. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find out who had pulled out or who their replacements were.  To be honest, whoever took these parts was fantastic.

A great night of live music.  Even missing the train home by 2 minutes couldn't spoil the evening, jumping in a cab instead.