Gábor Takács-Nagy & Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Presented by Liszt Academy

Beethoven completed his Symphony No. 9 in 1824, so the work turns two hundred years old in 2024. It is one of the most significant compositions by Beethoven and the culmination of his life’s work as well as one of the most well-known pieces of European classical music. For the first time in Western music history, a symphony – originally an instrumental genre – includes a vocal part: Beethoven set to music Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” in its final movement, thus adding a choir and vocal soloists to the symphonic orchestra. The work proclaims the ideals of brotherhood and the unity of humanity, thus becoming a symbol of peace and freedom. Over the past two centuries, it has been performed at numerous significant historical moments, including the demolition of the Berlin Wall. This time, it will be performed by the latest generation of musicians with Kossuth Prize-winner conductor and violinist Gábor Takács-Nagy.