Beethoven piano sonata marathon at the Birmingham Conservatoire

Beethoven in 1803

Whilst cycles of Beethoven piano sonatas are not surprisingly popping up in various places during his anniversary year, pianists from Birmingham Conservatoire are going one better and giving audiences a chance to hear all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas performed in a single day, by 32 pianists. The marathon takes place on 18 February 2020, from 10.00am in The Bradshaw Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire, and is repeated at the Ulverston Festival on 27 March 2020, and at the Chipping Camden Festival on 4 May 2020.

The sonatas are being played in chronological order and the whole thing will last around 12 hours. Audiences for the Birmingham Conservatoire performance can stay for as little or as long as they want and pay what you like on the door.

The pianists are all students at the Birmingham Conservatoire with performers from Taiwan, China and Japan to Russia, Georgia and Israel and right across Europe, alongside those from the UK. Following the final UK performance, twelve of the pianists, together with Professors John Thwaites and Pascal Nemirovski, will fly to Bolzano, Italy to give the cycle collaboratively, sharing the sonatas between themselves and students in Italy at the Bolzano Concert Hall (home of the Busoni Competition).


Full details from the Birmingham Conservatoire website.