Overview

Join your Colorado Symphony for the launch of a yearlong 2020 celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250^th birthday with one of the cardinal achievements of his venerated career. Featuring the Colorado Symphony Chorus and four vocal soloists, the monumental Missa Solemnis is a masterpiece of spiritual expression and musical innovation. Composed around the time of his Ninth Symphony, the two works shed light on Beethoven’s religious world view — where the Ninth’s ‘Ode to Joy’ is a hymn to man and brotherhood, the Missa Solemnis is a hymn to God. Through it all, Beethoven expresses universal spiritual ideas in a manner that could not have been accomplished by words alone, concluding with a fraught yet unanswered plea for peace amid the drumbeats of war. You won’t want to miss this once-in-a-generation performance as conducted by Music Director Brett Mitchell.