Date/Time
Sunday 5 April 2020
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Categories Classical
Beethoven’s epic penultimate piano sonata, Opus 110
Preceded by a talk about Jenny’s year-long bike journey, the people she met in her travels who heard this sonata, anecdotes and adventures.
There’s a brief “hitch hikers guide” to the music: the gestures of humanity expressed through the music…and finally, the sonata performed all the way through. It is, if you like, a marriage of the inner and outer journeys of the music and landscape. It is a powerful affirmation of life and human resilience. It’s autobiographical in that he was dreadfully ill when he wrote it and yet he rises like a phoenix despite being convinced his end was near. The music moves through fragility and despair to end in a triumphant blast of defiance
2020 is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in December 1770 in Bonn, Germany.
Jenny writes: “My vision for the concert is to tap into Beethoven’s big 250 anniversary. The [Dartington 2020] summer school will be devoting a whole week to his works including all of his piano sonatas
“My aim is to explain and play this sonata so that local audiences will be able to appreciate it at a deeper level when they come to the concerts in the summer.
“It is an epic journey of triumph over despair. Written when Beethoven was so ill that he thought he was going to die, it follows his progress through exhaustion and rises like a phoenix to finish in revival. And encompassing the spectrum of human experience. ”
Poi a Poi Di nuovo vivente: Marked in the instructions in the score, meaning:
Little by little regaining life – A contemporary encouragement to us all.
Price: £10/£8/£5
Different prices are all for the same unreserved seats – please pay what you can.
Tickets in advance from wegottickets.com/ashburtonarts (10% booking fee added) or in person from Rafikis (next door to the Arts Centre), Ashburton Information Centre and (usually) on the door.
To reserve a ticket, email boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk
Doors and bar open 30 minutes before the advertised start time.
Accessibility: Venue has flat access from street. PA tickets available on request.
Wheelchair users, please get in touch with the box office in advance if possible.
Free parking after 6pm and all day Sunday in the Town Car Park behind the Town Hall, and in the Grey Matter compound on Chuley Road. More information and map.