Symphonic Shorts
Beethoven is NOT dead
At least, not judging by the success of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra’s (FPO) "Beethoven by the Beach" Festival this past July. The brainchild of Maestro James Judd in consultation with Sun-Sentinel music critic Tim Smith, the festival had been in the works for almost a year. A group effort enlisting the likes of the FPO, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Florida Grand Opera, the Museum of Science and Discovery, Broward County Library, Ft. Lauderdale Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, Broward Cultural Affairs Council, Ft. Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival, the Museum of Art, and seven hotel partners, the festival presented all 9 symphonies and 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven, the children’s program Beethoven Lives Upstairs, movies, lectures, and more.
In addition to the Philharmonic, featured artists included Seymour Lipkin and the Budapest String Quartet.
Festival organizers, who had hoped to sell half of the seats, were pleasantly surprised by the turnout: an average of 70-80% of capacity, with the performance of the Ninth Symphony playing to a standing-room-only audience. And what a surprise it must have been for the audience to see their own FPO walk on stage opening night in "Beethoven by the Beach" T-shirts and sun-glasses!
Plans to present another festival next summer are already in the works, although whether it will be a repeat of Beethoven or something else are still up in the air.
The FPO has not commercially recorded any of the Beethoven symphonies yet, although the orchestra has donated their services to record the Ninth, which is only available to Bronze Circle or higher donors to the orchestra.
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