Tuesday, 29 December, 2020 | 7:00 PM
Teddy Abrams
Be Embraced: The Struggle and Transcendence of Beethoven
In honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebration this month, Teddy Abrams provides insights on Beethoven’s life and why his works remain so popular today.
Pianist-conductor Teddy Abrams presents “Be Embraced: The Struggle and Transcendence of Beethoven,” a fascinating look at Beethoven’s life along with a close examination of several of his most popular works to try and uncover what makes them enduring and meaningful. Why do Für Elise and the Fifth Symphony remain so powerful and relevant, for example? What distinguishes them and why have they endured when so much other music (even by Beethoven) is lost to history? Abrams has been known to answer these questions in various inventive ways including a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at Forecastle Festival with rock elements interspersed throughout. Please join Mr. Abrams in the culmination of a year-long, world-wide celebration of 250 years of Beethoven — during his birth month, no less! — in our final Piano Talk of the 2020 Season.
About the artist
An unusually versatile musician, Teddy Abrams is the widely-acclaimed Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and Music Director and Conductor of the Britt Orchestra, as well as an established pianist, clarinetist, and composer. A tireless advocate for the power of music, Abrams continues to foster interdisciplinary collaboration with organizations including the Louisville Ballet, the Center for Interfaith Relations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Speed Art Museum, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Abrams studied conducting with Michael Tilson Thomas, Otto-Werner Mueller and Ford Lallerstedt at the Curtis Institute of Music, and with David Zinman at the Aspen Music Festival; he was the youngest conducting student ever accepted at both institutions. Teddy was also a proud member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for seven seasons, and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music, having studied piano with Paul Hersh.
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