The afternoon of film and music will feature a screening of the documentary Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Final Symphony, a Q&A with the film’s coproducer, Greg Mitchell, and a Beethoven sonata performed by Columbia County concert pianist Lincoln Mayorga.
Written by the composer when he was nearly deaf, the Ninth is the last symphony he wrote before he died—190 years ago next month—making it the source of the mythic “curse of the ninth,” a superstition in Western classical music that purports that a ninth symphony will always be a composer’s final one before their death.
Here’s a preview of the film:
“The Global Impact of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony” will be presented at Spencertown Academy Arts Center in Spencertown, New York, on February 24 at 4pm. Tickets are $20, $15 for members, and $10 students. For more information, call (518) 392-3693 or visit www.spencertownacademy.org.
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