Ludwig van Beethoven

The pontiff, who possessed a sizable record collection, was a keen listener. Hear his favorite tracks — from Bach to Piazzolla — and a few more that might have caught his discerning ear.

Join us on Sunday, March 9 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, March 10 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 when The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2, with Seong-Jin Cho, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 — the first in a fresh series of performances from the 2024-25 season.

The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert series brings you Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, featuring pianist Haochen Zhang, and his Symphony No. 7 in A Major, with guest conductor Nathalie Stutzmann.

Virtuosic pianist and composer Beethoven suffered from several debilitating ailments. A new study suggests lead poisoning may be at least partly to blame.

The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, a recent work by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, and Haydn’s First Cello Concerto, featuring principal cellist Hai-Ye Ni. Guest conductor David Robertson is on the podium.

A new live stage show features actor John Malkovich transformed into some of the meanest music critics ever — in real reviews skewering the work of great composers like Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin.

The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you Inon Barnatan playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, alongside Beethoven's 'Eroica' and Julia Perry's 'Study for Orchestra,' with guest conductor Osmo Vänskä.

Join us on Sunday, August 14th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, August 15th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 when our Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast brings you a performance recorded live in November, 2021 and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Beethoven. Sure, he was the deaf, scowling musical genius with the wild hair. But those who knew him thought of him a little differently. We’ll take a look at some little-known quirks of the great composer, culled from documented recollections of his friends and acquaintances, biographies, and my conversation with John Suchet, author of Beethoven: The Man Revealed.

The second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7—the Allegretto—has captivated listeners since the symphony’s 1813 premiere, when it was so popular that the orchestra used it as an encore. WRTI’s Susan Lewis has more on why this particular movement continues to engage us.