Symphony Tacoma continues its celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday with Ludwig AND Beethoven on March 21, 2020 in the Pantages Theater.

The concert opens with Mozart’s longest and final symphony, No. 41 “Jupiter,” which is notable not only for its power and beauty, but also for its musical innovations and techniques that had previously been shunned. Beethoven was said to have been inspired by its five simultaneous melodies, or polyphony.

Next up is the world premiere of Composer in Residence David Ludwig’s The Bleeding Pines. Inspired by Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” it is based on a play by poet Ray Owen that tells the story of North Carolina’s endangered Round Top Long Leaf Pine forest and one woman’s efforts to save that ancient tract of land from oblivion.

“That forest around Southern Pines is a mystical, spiritual place—a place where one feels the passing millennia in a single visit walking through woods and where the smell of the pines sits still in the air,” says Ludwig. “The tract of forest survives today because of the passionate work of Helen Boyd Dull and the continued efforts of conservationists who appreciate the timeless beauty of the trees.

“Owen and I have collaborated on multiple song cycles using his poetry, but this new oratorio is an opportunity to paint his story on the great canvas of the orchestra and chorus. That the premiere of this new work is taking place in Tacoma in the Pacific Northwest is meaningful, given how important the environment and the green life of trees is to people who live here.”

The Suburban Times
January 20th, 2020

Symphony Tacoma is marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth by performing three of his works in its first two concerts of 2020, beginning with his Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” on Saturday, February 22, 2020 and two U.S. Premieres…

The first premiere, “Spheres” by Swedish composer, Simon Petersson, was conducted by Music Director, Sarah Ioannides, in Sweden in 2018. Narrative in nature, the work sparks the listener’s imagination to tell its story without visuals, with the title only providing a hint of its subject matter. The second premiere is Yaron Gottfried’s Electric Guitar Concerto, a beautiful classical piece featuring a non-traditional orchestral instrument. Gottfried is one of Israel’s most prominent contemporary musicians who bridges classical, contemporary and jazz music. His Electric Guitar Concerto uses presets with various styles of sounds to change the atmosphere and character of the music, presenting the electric guitar as a unique solo instrument within the classical acoustic world.