Beethoven Festival: LOVE 2013 Announces Schedule Feat. World Premiere of New Love Song

The International Beethoven Project, led by President and Artistic Director George Lepauw, announced today the full schedule of more than 60 musical performances in nine days for Beethoven Festival: LOVE 2013-the organization's third annual multidisciplinary festival inspired by the genius of Ludwig van Beethoven, Sept. 7-15, 2013. Spanning from Bach to The Beatles, new classical and rock commissions, the diverse musical programming for LOVE 2013 includes 37 world premieres and six Chicago premieres, among them the world premieres of a newly discovered Beethoven love song and a cello/percussion piece by Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche.

Throughout the festival, acclaimed Chicago artists such as Kotche, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Lincoln Trio, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, pianist Anthony Molinaro and GRAMMY Award-winning harmonicist Howard Levy will be featured alongside international talent fromBelgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More than 100 events spanning music, visual art, fashion, literature and education will be presented during LOVE 2013, headquartered at Merit School of Music's Joy Faith Knapp Music Center (38 S. Peoria Street). A free public preview and Art Opening for the festival will be held on Friday, Sept. 6. Programming for LOVE 2013 uses Beethoven's letters to the Immortal Beloved as a thematic inspiration and jumping-off point to explore contemporary and evolving issues of passion, romance and relationships.

General admission and VIP tickets for Beethoven Festival: LOVE 2013 are on sale now. One-day festival passes begin at $30; five-day VIP passes are $275 and include prime reserved seating at performances. Free admission will be offered on an as-available basis to students with ID and proof of social media posting about LOVE 2013 on Facebook and/or Twitter (#notjustbeethoven). Additional International Beethoven Project membership packages, including an all-access festival pass and additional VIP experiences, begin at $300. Single tickets for the Masquerade of LOVE opening night ball begin at $75. To purchase tickets or for more information, please call 312-772-5821 or visit www.BeethovenFestival2013.com.

"This year's Beethoven Festival is our most diverse yet," says President and Artistic Director George Lepauw. "An extraordinary lineup of performing artists from Chicago and the world are coming together to collaborate, inspire, and explore the meaning of Beethoven, art and love in 2013. Many living composers, rockers, jazz and electronica artists will perform their works for the first time. This festival is all about creative collaboration-and that is how we have chosen to express our love this year."

Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche is among the rock artists contributing to LOVE 2013. In addition to his world premiere cello/percussion piece, he is heading up the festival's "Rockatelle Project" with Fulcrum Point New Music Project's Joe Darnaby: a commissioning project in which folk, rock and electronic acts from across the U.S. will write songs based on themes from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The project is a companion to the festival's "Bagatelle Project," headed by Mischa Zupko, in which composers write piano pieces on the same theme. Together, these projects will result in 30 world premieres.

Among the international musical headliners for LOVE 2013 is heralded composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher, music director of Paris' Ensemble InterContemporain, who returns as LOVE 2013 Artist-in-Residence after conducting the Beethoven Festival Orchestra in 2012 for the Chicago premiere of Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus ballet and his Eroica Symphony. During LOVE 2013, Pintscher will conduct three full programs, including: Bach's Saint-John's Passion; Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Overture to Tristan and Isolde; Mozart's Gran Partita; Beethoven's ode to nature, Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral Symphony); and Pintscher's take on the ultimate love story, his Songs from Solomon's Garden. Several of Pintscher's chamber works will also be performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and other festival artists.

For the full schedule, visit www.internationalbeethovenproject.com/festival/schedule.

ABOUT GEORGE LEPAUW:

Concert pianist and International Beethoven Project President and Artistic Director, George Lepauw is a true 21st-century musician, both intensely focused on his art and wholly engaged with the world. Recently named "Chicagoan of the Year" for Classical Music in the Chicago Tribune, Lepauw is the founder of The Journal of a Musician, the Beethoven Project Trio, Prometheus, the International Beethoven Project and its accompanying, critically-lauded Beethoven Festival. Lepauw gave his New York City debut with the Beethoven Project Trio (BPT) at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in 2010, and concurrently released his first commercial recording, which reached #24 on the Classical Billboard Charts, of three rare Beethoven trios (including a Beethoven world premiere) with the BPT on Cedille Records. Lepauw began his studies at the Rachmaninov Conservatory in Paris, France at the age of three, and soon after was accepted by Madame Aïda Barenboim as her youngest-ever student, with the exception of her son, pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Lepauw went on to study with Russian virtuoso Elena Varvarova, who prepared him for his first public concert at the age of ten in Paris, performing Beethoven sonatas. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University and received his Masters of Music in Piano Performance from Northwestern University. George was the recipient of the first Earl Wild Foundation Prize, enabling him to study with the late legendary pianist in 2006.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL BEETHOVEN PROJECT AND BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL:

The International Beethoven Project, a Chicago-based non-profit, is dedicated to the promotion of revolutionary culture, inspired by the music and life of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-­1827), one of the most ground­breaking artists of all time. Its mission is accomplished through the presentation of an annual Beethoven Festival, concerts, mixed­-media exhibits, lectures, the production of recordings and films, the commissioning of new music and art, publications and educational outreach in schools and universities as well as in non­traditional venues. The unconventional and multidisciplinary Beethoven Festival was inspired by concert pianist and Founding Artistic Director George Lepauw's cultural explorations of Paris, London, Beijing and New York. The inaugural festival in 2011 presented 25 concerts over five days in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood; last year, it grew to over 60 events spanning nine days, based out of the Uptown neighborhood. This year's festival headquartered in the West Loop neighborhood will feature over 100 events spanning classical and new music, visual art, fashion, literature and education. Beethoven's vision of humanity, justice and "brotherhood" inspires us to build a better world through music and art, continuing the dialogue that is necessary between past, present and future generations of artists in order for culture and civilization to flourish. For more information, visit www.internationalbeethovenproject.com.

ABOUT MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC:

Merit School of Music, www.meritmusic.org, transforms the lives of Chicago-area youth by providing the highest quality music education-with a focus on underserved communities-inspiring young people to achieve their full musical and personal potential.

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