Where it Begins

– “Beethoven and Friends” forms the general outline of this season’s concerts. We begin with his Symphony No. 1, premiered at the turn of the 19th century. During that same decade, Étienne Nicolas Méhul was writing in France. We open with the overture to his opera Joseph. Moving a century ahead, we include a Concerto Grosso by Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch for strings with piano obbligato.