Reach for the Stars
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26-May-2026
BEETHOVEN 𝘓𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 Overture No. 3
JANÁČEK 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 Suite (arr. Jilek)
Franz Welser-Möst leads a pair of works centered on freedom: Beethoven’s propulsive 𝘓𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 Overture No. 3 and excerpts from Leoš Janáček’s intensely dramatic opera 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥.
Welser-Möst discusses freedom as a defining force in Beethoven’s music, describing 𝘓𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 as philosophy made audible. In this overture, he hears a journey per aspera ad astra — through difficulty, toward the stars — much like the American Dream. Welser-Möst also reflects on Janáček’s precise, unrelenting style and the way the Czech language colors his music — declaring the Suite’s ending “an enormous triumph of the human spirit.”
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