Uniting the vocal and orchestral forces of which he is the artistic heart and soul, Philippe Herreweghe celebrates solidarity, with Beethoven’s symphony inspired by Schiller’s Ode to Joy and Austrian composer Hanns Eisler’s pacifist oratorio Against the War.

A pamphlet against the madness of war. A programme cannot be much clearer than that. Gegen den Krieg by Hanns Eisler, written during WWI, consists of 24 variations for choir, all set to poems, by his good friend Bertolt Brecht. Philippe Herreweghe links this music to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. This iconic work is also brimming with extramusical meaning. In the finale of his Ninth, Beethoven set part of Friedrich Schiller’s famous Ode to Joy to music. The melody, simple in origin, was developed by Beethoven with increasing complexity, culminating in the famous finale. He was thus able to express the message of human redemption in Schiller’s ode. 'Alle Menschen werden Brüder!' [All people shall be brothers!]. A call for unity that resonates through history as an echo from the past.