All About That Beethoven

“Dit-dit-dit-DAAAH.”

The man behind the most famous notes in classical music is at the root of a month-long festival set to start this Saturday. It’s BeethovenFest, the inaugural event of events from WinterArts aiming to keep February warm with weeks of cultural and educational entertainment.

Spearheaded by Theatre B and the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, BeethovenFest celebrates the life and legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven, the German composer of classical music fame.

From arts organizations to eateries, breweries to the library, BeethovenFest has an event for everyone across the community, all in the name of Beethoven.

BeethovenFest’s beginnings

Originating from an idea between Theatre B and the F-M Symphony, BeethovenFest has some of its roots in “33 Variations,” a Moisés Kaufman play presented by Theatre B throughout February.

Upon learning that the symphony had its “All-Beethoven” concert lined up around the same time, the two organizations sought to see how they might collaborate around the composer.

“That led to a larger conversation about what’s missing in our community, what would we like to see, what we wish were true,” said Brad Delzer, program coordinator at Theatre B. “One of the things we mutually wished were true was a stronger sense of collaboration and camaraderie between different artists and art organizations.”

The idea of a winter arts festival came up in conversation, with each year focused on a different artist. With a theme and events already on hand, other arts organizations were invited to join in the call for the first WinterArts festival.

Beyond this year, WinterArts hopes to celebrate other artists and icons during February. Playwright William Shakespeare is already in the hopper for 2016, the 400th anniversary of his death.

“It’s looking like it’s going to be icons, but it’s not limited to one person, or it could be an idea … someone who really affected the art world,” Delzer said of possible future WinterArts festivals.

Theatre B

Theatre B’s “33 Variations,” runs from Feb. 6-28 at the downtown theater. The story concerns a musicologist determined to discover the composer’s meaning behind his composition of the “Diabelli Variations,” while battling ALS.

Linda Boyd, executive director of the F-M Symphony, fulfills the role of Dr. Katherine Brandt in “33 Variations.” With experience in community theater and opera, this is Boyd’s “first lead in a substantial play.”

Portraying a character degenerating in body and mind due to ALS, Boyd said the role has been a “mental and physical challenge.”

Early on in preparation for the role, Boyd and Delzer met with a Sanford specialist to go over the effects of ALS on the human body, from hands and feet to speech.

“I want to do a respectful job and as accurate as possible a job in portraying those physical effects,” Boyd said, adding, “With this, you have to portray talking with a tongue that doesn’t work anymore, and with the way your body has curled up, and I just don’t want that to come off as disrespectful or presumptuous. I just want to do the very best that I can.”

Last fall, Theatre B presented “Wit,” a play that followed a cancer patient from her diagnosis to her death. While the two roles are similar, Boyd said the diseases differ in prognosis.

“With cancer, you have hope and there’s treatment … there’s things that can be done, you can see there’s hope,” she said. “With ALS, it’s simply system management. There’s no treatment, there’s no getting better. It’s just from here to the end, how long it’s going to take.”

With roles in both “33 Variations” and the symphony’s events in the festival, Boyd is proud to be a part of it all, especially in portraying such a character as Katherine Brandt.

“It’s an honor, but it’s deeply overwhelming.”

F-M Symphony

The F-M Symphony strikes the match for the fire of BeethovenFest with its “All-Beethoven” concert featuring three of the composer’s greatest pieces, including the famous “Symphony No. 5.”

It’s an event that will see an annual side-by-side with musicians of the F-M Area Senior High Youth Symphony for “Coriolan Overture,” the first piece presented. This will round up 160 musicians on stage, both professional and young performers alike.

From there, guest pianist Matti Raekallio will be the featured soloist in “Piano Concerto No. 5,” or “Emperor.” Raekallio has connections to the symphony’s maestro, Christopher Zimmerman.

“He is a real dear friend of our conductor’s,” Boyd said. “He’s originally from Finland but taught for many years in Sweden, Germany and then for several years at Juilliard, and I think that’s where Chris got to know him.”

Following “Emperor,” the symphony digs into Beethoven’s Fifth, providing an opportunity to hear a piece Boyd said is often overlooked by symphonies for being too common or well-known.

“This is a chance to actually hear the whole thing,” Boyd said, “and it is just such an amazing piece because that piece … really highlights how Beethoven takes a small, little cell of an idea and spins an entire piece out of that.”

From “All-Beethoven,” the symphony returns on Feb. 5 with a family concert that will feature more music of Beethoven, with the man himself on hand to discuss his life and works.

Jay Nelson, who portrays the composer in “33 Variations,” steps in here, making just one of several appearances as Beethoven around the community for this festival.

Finally, the symphony bids goodbye to BeethovenFest on March 1 with “BEERthoven & Brats” at Fargo Billiards and Gastropub, bringing an end to the first WinterArts festival.

Events galore

Beyond Theatre B and the F-M Symphony, BeethovenFest takes form in events at the Fargo Public Library, the three area brewing companies, Rhombus Guys, the Plains Art Museum and elsewhere.

Lori West, branch services manager of the Fargo Public Library, said a previous collaboration over “Clybourne Park” with Theatre B led to the partnership for this festival.

“We have space at the libraries, and so we just wanted to participate, and we know what types of programs work best in our space,” she said.

A screening of “Immortal Beloved” and a Saturday Strings concert come to the library for BeethovenFest, as well as a sound and movement art installation piece, “muss es sein.”

Meanwhile, Fargo, Junkyard and Drekker brewing companies contribute to the fun with Beethoven-themed brews, including Junkyard’s “Deaf Guy,” Fargo’s “Magnum Opus” and Drekker’s “ESB (Extra Special Beethoven).” Weekly happy hours throughout February with the F-M Symphony’s tuba quartet offer these brews up for celebration.

Altogether, BeethovenFest is a creative challenge that will see how much fun the area arts can have with the theme of Beethoven. From there, WinterArts will continue the festival fun, building off of Beethoven and exploring the artists of our history, Delzer said.

“Whatever that theme is is not going to be restricted to some canonical, great artist, but that’s how we started it just because it gives a really easy entry point and builds the foundation for later.”

YOU SHOULD KNOW

BeethovenFest runs Jan. 31 to March 1

For a full listing of BeethovenFest events, visit winterartsfest.org