The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is in the middle of a weeklong tribute to Beethoven, and the festival hits its busiest stretch this Saturday with back-to-back concerts at Steinmetz Hall inside the Dr. Phillips Center. A family-friendly matinee kicks off at 1 p.m., followed hours later by a full evening performance built around one of the composer's most famous symphonies.
The event, called the Resonate Festival, is curated by Orlando Philharmonic Music Director Eric Jacobsen and runs across three concert dates — November 5, 7 and 8 — all inside Steinmetz Hall, according to GottaGoOrlando. FOX 35 Orlando reported that the orchestra is celebrating Beethoven's music throughout the festival. The Dr. Phillips Center's own listing confirms the Saturday evening program is also part of the season's Resonate Festival under Jacobsen's curation.
Saturday's Double Bill at Steinmetz Hall
Saturday's 1 p.m. family concert features musical selections from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 alongside Caroline Shaw's “The Mountain that Loved a Bird,” per CultureOwl. Tickets for the family show are listed at $20 each, and the event is recommended for children age 7 and older, the same listing notes.
That evening, at 7:30 p.m., the Orlando Philharmonic shifts to a full Classics Series program built around Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, according to the Dr. Phillips Center. The program also includes Caroline Shaw's “The Mountain that Loved a Bird” and selections from Vivaldi's “Gloria in D Major, RV 589,” the venue's listing shows. For that Shaw piece specifically, the orchestra's own event page names Marlisa Goldsmith, an anchor at FOX 35 Orlando, as narrator — not for the Beethoven symphony itself, per the Orlando Philharmonic's event page.
A Week of Beethoven's Middle Symphonies
Saturday's pair of concerts bookends a festival that touches three of Beethoven's symphonies across its full run. Thursday's November 5 concert, held at 7 p.m., paired Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 with “Hope on the Hill,” a piece by cellist Mike Block performed with the University of Central Florida University Choir, according to the same GottaGoOrlando report. The Dr. Phillips Center's own calendar listing echoes that pairing of Symphony No. 5 and “Hope on the Hill.”
The festival wraps on November 8 at 2:30 p.m. with Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, paired with a Florida premiere of John Williams' Clarinet Concerto performed by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Assistant Principal Clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, the outlet reported. Taken together, the orchestra's own site describes the festival as a chance to experience Beethoven's symphonies No. 4, 5 and 6 alongside new works from guest artists, according to the Orlando Philharmonic.
Free Talks and New Faces in the Orchestra
Each performance is preceded by a free pre-concert talk in Steinmetz Hall, offered one hour before showtime, according to the Dr. Phillips Center listing. The festival also arrives alongside a roster change for the orchestra: Joe Henderson has joined as the Orlando Philharmonic's new Assistant Principal Violist, according to the orchestra's own staff page.
