How will you celebrate your 250th birthday? We're sure that a 12-hour rendition of 35 of your finest works back to back would be a top choice for many. Beethoven is being feted in many ways this year, and the pupils and staff of Radley College, St Paul’s Girls School, Dulwich College and the school of St Helen and St Katherine take over the Sheldonian on Sunday for a cycle of all 35 piano sonatas in 12 hours. If it sounds like a marathon, it is!
The pupils and teachers will play the majority of the canon, joined by special guests for lunchtime and evening gala performances. In the middle of the day Julian Jacobson takes a turn, and he is clearly the right man for the job. No stranger to playing Beethoven en masse, Jacobson has twice completed a complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas in a single day by himself.
The evening concert is performed by Sofya Gulyak, who is better known as an expert in works by her fellow Russians, but who gives goosebumps playing the Romantics too. Her perspective may give a unique touch to five of the sonatas, including Op. 57, the Appassionata and the notoriously difficult Op. 106 Hammerklavier.
Day passes are just £10 for adults, £1 for students and free for anyone under 18, so fans of Beethoven should support this great undertaking and enjoy a grand festival of his music. Whether you stay all day, come for the gala concerts, or pop in for a quick sonata, there'll be plenty to enjoy. The question is, who gets to play the Moonlight?
