Vienna is expected to be flooded with classical music lovers in 2020 as it stages countless shows to mark the 250th year since German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born.
The Austrian capital was where Beethoven trained under Mozart and Haydn, wrote music and died, and the city continues to honour his legacy with recitals, museum programs and memorials.
And around the world — including in the Tri-Cities — musicians are also tailoring their concert programs in the lead up to the milestone year.
Next Friday, the Evergreen Cultural Centre will see Andrew Sords (violin), Luke Severn (cello) and Cheryl Duvall (piano) pay homage to Beethoven as part of its TD Music Series.
Their Coquitlam stop is one of three gigs on their B.C. tour, showcasing Beethoven’s “stormy and brooding” Piano Trio in C-minor as well as his Archduke Trio, a “pastoral and reverent” song, Sords told The Tri-City News last week.
Beethoven isn’t the only composer on their program.
For their Evergreen debut, the trio will open with Brahms’ Sixth Hungarian Dance in D-flat major (Vivace) while Severn will play the Canadian premiere of his own piece, titled when the world was young.
Sords will close the first half with Ravel’s rhapsodic Tzigane.
Sords, an Ohio resident who last year appeared with the National Symphony of Guatemala and regularly gives master classes at UBC, met Duvall nine years ago when they were paired for a concert near Toronto.
Since then, Sords and the Toronto-based Duvall have performed many times, and have included Romantic era pieces by Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn, among others.
Severn, an Australian, was brought into the fold later to make a trio.
Meanwhile, David Mann, Evergreen’s performing arts manager, said another Beethoven concert will come to the Pinetree Way facility next fall, with a larger ensemble performing early works by Bonn-born composer.
For tickets to the Beethoven Trio on Nov. 29, call at 604-927-6555 or visit evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
