200 years of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony celebrated in four European cities

On May 7, Arte will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and his famous Ode to Joy. For the occasion, the Franco-German channel will broadcast its four movements almost live from Leipzig, Paris, Milan and Vienna. The evening will begin at 8:55 p.m. with a documentary on this symphony, created on May 7, 1824 in Vienna and considered one of the greatest works of all time. The evening will be broadcast on Arte and the arte.tv platform.

“In the current political context, such a message of fraternity, humanity and peace takes on its full meaning more than ever,” commented the president of Arte, Bruno Patino, welcoming “the dream of a new Europe in music by Beethoven. Thus, from 10:20 p.m., the four movements of the symphony will be successively broadcast with a slight delay from four cities that marked Beethoven's life.

The first will be performed by the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Germany, conducted by Andris Nelsons. The second by the Orchester de Paris, from the Philharmonie, under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä. The third movement will be performed by the Orchestra of the Teatro de la Scala in Milan, under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. Finally, the fourth and last movement, with the Ode - also called Hymn - to Joy will be played by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joana Mallwitz, in the city where this symphony was created.

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Furthermore, the Franco-German funded channel presented on Thursday its coverage of the European elections of June 9. In particular, it will broadcast two special evenings, Tuesday April 30 and Sunday June 9, with three hours live for this election evening. In addition to its newspapers and reports, it will screen documentaries, including At the heart of European diplomacy on June 4, or a series of six interviews with European intellectuals entitled Europe in the eye of the storm. Finally, the channel will co-publish, with the quarterly magazine Zadig, Rêver l'Europe, a special issue on sale from April 24.