Festival Beethoven à Beaune

From 1 to 4 April 2027, the Beethoven Festival in Beaune will mark the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death with an edition themed around ‘The Testament’. What does an artist leave behind when their voice falls silent? Beethoven’s music provides a resounding answer: a legacy that continues to move us and to be passed on.

Four concerts trace a journey to the heart of his world. On Thursday 1 April, pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet opens the festival with four sonatas, from the ‘Farewell’ to the breathtaking ‘Hammerklavier’. The solo piano reveals the richness of a constantly evolving thought process.

On Friday, the Owon Trio performs three piano trios, from Opus 1 No. 3 to the ‘Archduke’, via Opus 70 No. 2. The fervour of youth, depth and balance interplay in a dialogue between three instruments.

On Saturday, the Pavel Haas Quartet explores three facets of the composer: the tension of the ‘Serioso’, the intimacy of the String Quartet Opus 135 and the grandeur of the First Razumovsky. The string quartet becomes a space for confidences, confrontation and freedom.

On Sunday, pianists Enrico Pace and Igor Roma bring a new dimension to the Ninth Symphony in Franz Liszt’s transcription for two pianos.

At the Lanterne Magique and in the Salle Saint-Nicolas at the Hospices de Beaune, experience Beethoven in a new light: not as a figure from the past, but as a voice that is still very much alive. Let us share this musical legacy together.