Program:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

*new composition TBD

*Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3

*This concert will be performed with collaborators from all student and teacher participants involved in this project, a culmination of a semester’s work with the Cavani. There will be an additional piece on the program, commissioned to be performed by student ensemble and string quartet.

Beyond Beethoven reimagines the cycle of 16 string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven by using this music as a galvanizing force to disrupt the traditional model of classical music presentation and music education by bringing together presenting organizations and educational institutions from diverse communities that do not normally intersect. We look to Beethoven and his music as inspiration because, like no other composer, his musical vision innovated the classical forms of his predecessors and contemporaries, forging a new musical pathway for future generations. Living with profound deafness and illness that isolated him from society, his friends and family, his peers and his art, his music became a crucible for his pain. He transformed both great physical and emotional suffering into art that communicates the spectrum of universal human experience, somehow always imbued with hope and joy. He believed that art was for all mankind, and that it has the power to elevate the human spirit and break down barriers. Our goal is to harness this artistic power to effect positive change in the 21st Century.

Beyond Beethoven has two primary components: residencies in Cuyahoga public school string programs and a series of ground-breaking concerts by the Cavani. The Residency component will consist of bi-monthly chamber orchestra rehearsals with participants from Cleveland School for the Arts and Lakewood High School, among others, and in-school or virtual informances (interactive, informational presentations and performances). The concert component consists of 7 free-of-charge, one by ticket purchase, public concerts in major performance venues by the Cavani Quartet. We will innovate the tried-and-true Beethoven Cycle by curating programs that include the works of 8 brilliant living composers with heritage and backgrounds from around the world.