The Everett Chorale couldn’t have picked a better place to celebrate one of Beethoven’s greatest works.
The chorale will perform Beethoven’s Ninth for the “Ode to Joy” concert Feb. 15 at Benaroya Hall — the Carnegie Hall of Seattle — alongside the Rainier Chorale, Choir of the Sound and Thalia Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer Rodgers, Everett Chorale’s artistic director and conductor, will be one of four soloists.
Benaroya Hall is the home of the Seattle Symphony. Leading figures in classical music, such as Itzhak Perlman, Van Cliburn and Hilary Hahn, have performed there since it opened in 1998.
Like all great halls, Benaroya Hall has a reputation for rich and full acoustics. Rodgers, who has previously performed for choruses on large stages in the Washington, D.C., area, said the venue will provide an extraordinary experience for all of the performers.
“There’s nothing like that feeling of walking out on stage and seeing the house from that perspective,” Rodgers said. “If you sing well and resonantly, the acoustics will take care of the rest.”
Each group will perform individually before coming together to sing the choral finale from “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125.” Rodgers will sing mezzo-soprano alongside the other soloists — soprano Laura Loge, tenor Zach Finkelstein and baritone Darrell J. Jordan — during various parts of the 24-minute-long piece.
Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony is considered by many to be his greatest accomplishment. Its perhaps best known for the rousing “Ode to Joy” theme, but has also gained recognition for being played at epochal events in history such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
“It was the first symphony that had vocal music,” said Mark Adrian, who will conduct the finale. “It has slow, beautiful melodies, a march and one of the most famous tunes of all time.”
Adrian has been involved in Seattle’s choral music community since 1981. He’s the founder of Northwest Associated Arts, an umbrella organization for six choruses in the Seattle area.
Adrian has organized concerts featuring community chorales at Benaroya Hall since 2003. The Everett Chorale performed the great cantata “Carmina Burana” at the venue in 2015.
“It’s a great opportunity for these community groups to get into a world-renowned concert hall,” he said. “It’s spectacular for the audience, too, because they get to hear four different groups all in one concert.”
The Everett Chorale will perform five selections, including the English carols “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day” and “There is No Rose of Such Virtue.”
Evan Thompson: 425-339-3427, ethompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @ByEvanThompson.
If you go
The “Ode to Joy” concert, featuring the Everett Chorale, is 2 p.m. Feb. 15 at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium in Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle. Tickets are $35. Call 206-215-4747 or go to www.seattlesymphony.org for more information.
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