Chapman, UCI to collaborate with Philharmonic Society & OCYSO to present Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

April 18, 2014

Daniel Alfred Wachs conducts The Chapman Orchestra

The Chapman Orchestra partners with The Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra, Grammy-award winning soloists and combined choirs from Chapman University and UCI to present “Beethoven: The Finale.” Program to include the U.S. West Coast premiere of Frieze (Turnage), Piano Concerto No. 1, First Movement (Beethoven) and Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (Beethoven). Presented as part of Beethoven: The Late Great sponsored by the Segerstrom Foundation. A “Must-See Performance” pick by the OC Register for the 2013-2014 season.

“The Philharmonic Society’s multiyear survey of Beethoven’s late music has brought some of the composer’s most celebrated and cultivated performers to Orange County. For a grand finale, however, the focus is on the future. In a touching gesture, the Philharmonic Society has turned over Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra, along with musicians and singers from Chapman University and UC Irvine, conducted by Daniel Alfred Wachs. Vocal soloists include noted soprano Jessica Rivera and tenor Nicholas Phan. Intriguingly, the program will begin with the West Coast premiere of “Frieze,” a recent Beethoven Ninth companion piece by Mark-Anthony Turnage (a sometimes bad boy of British music and composer of the opera “Anna Nicole”). On top of that, 15-year-old pianist Marc Yu will be soloist in the first movement of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto.”
– Los Angeles Times, Culture Monster