For the first time at the Filarmonico with Fondazione Arena, Beethoven's spiritual testament
After the premiere on Friday, May 8th at 8 p.m., repeat performance on Saturday, May 9th at 5 p.m.
Wolfram Christ conducts soloists, choir and orchestra in the Missa solemnis
“From the heart may it go to the heart”: Ludwig van Beethoven’s most personal and perhaps most colossal work makes its debut over two dates during a special weekend at the Teatro Filarmonico: Friday 8 May and Saturday 9 May, Wolfram Christ conducts the Orchestra and Choir of Fondazione Arena
BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS
Christ
Friday 8 May 8.00 pm
Saturday 9 May 5.00 pm
Teatro Filarmonico di Verona
This is an unmissable event: on Friday 8 May at 8 pm, at the Teatro Filarmonico, the artistic ensembles of Fondazione Arena will perform Beethoven’s Missa solemnis for the first time, a sacred and symphonic summit of his maturity. An intense and complex work that spans centuries of tradition and innovation, and which still today challenges passionate listeners, believers and skeptics alike, offering a unique collective experience. On the podium returns Wolfram Christ, former principal violist of the Berliner Philharmoniker, together with a vocal quartet of soloists, and the Orchestra and Choir of Fondazione Arena di Verona. A second performance follows on Saturday 9 May at 5 pm and, exceptionally, also on the evening of Sunday 10 May at the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza.
Conceived in 1820 to celebrate the appointment of Archduke Rudolf of Austria-Lorraine, his great patron, as archbishop, the Missa solemnis actually required a longer period of work from Beethoven, already worn yet still tirelessly active. It is the second mass by the genius from Bonn, after the more traditional Mass in C major op. 86 of 1807. But the Missa solemnis, “the greatest work I have ever composed” in Beethoven’s own words, escapes any previous definition or model: because of its dimensions and treatment of form, it cannot be considered liturgical in the traditional sense, nor theatrical in its adherence to the text of the ordinarium missae. It is certainly the result of a profoundly personal exploration of the meaning of the sacred and of music’s ability to express it. Alongside the nearly contemporary Ninth Symphony, it shares not only the grandeur of inspiration but also a long and troubled gestation process, culminating in 1824.
Beethoven analyzes and recreates the Latin text of the liturgy to restore a new spiritual and human weight to every word. The result is a score that looks both to ancient polyphony and Flemish music, while not forgetting the illustrious example of Bach and Handel’s oratorios, at times explicitly referenced, in search of an authentic and original language. The Missa solemnis still questions those who perform it and those who listen to it today, after having sparked centuries of even opposing critical interpretations regarding the relationship between faith and reason in the life and work of its composer. Beethoven himself added a special dedication at the opening of the score: “from the heart may it go to the heart,” as a wish for universal goodwill. This feeling remains strong at the end of a musical journey lasting approximately one hour and twenty minutes through different atmospheres and styles. Monumental is the Kyrie, seeking ever wider spaces; triumphant the Gloria; suspended between the severity of the fugue and archaic echoes in its internal narrative, the Credo; ecstatic the Sanctus, with the “interlude” leading to the Benedictus on the notes of the solo violin, up to the moving plea for peace in the final Agnus Dei.
Intense and often unpredictable to the limits of performability, the Missa solemnis is one of the most demanding challenges for orchestra and choir. The artistic ensembles of Fondazione Arena, within a project revisiting Beethoven’s complete symphonic works in view of the 2027 bicentenary, are performing this work for the first time in fifty years of activity at the Teatro Filarmonico. On the podium is conductor Wolfram Christ, specialist in the great German classical and romantic repertoire, formerly legendary principal violist of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado and today an internationally acclaimed conductor, returning to Verona for the third consecutive year of symphonic collaboration. Joining him, alongside the Arena Orchestra and the Choir prepared by Maestro Roberto Gabbiani, are soprano Athanasia Zöhrer, mezzo-soprano Katrin Wundsam, tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp and bass Johannes Weisser, four international soloists all making their Verona debut.
After the double performance on 8 and 9 May at the Teatro Filarmonico, the Missa solemnis will also be exceptionally performed on Sunday 10 May at 8.45 pm at the Teatro Comunale di Vicenza.
The 2026 Symphonic Season offers three more double-date events between May and November featuring great classics from the nineteenth century to today, several premieres for Verona and world premieres commissioned by Fondazione Arena: subscription packages and single tickets for each date are still available athttps://www.arena.it/it/teatro-filarmonico, at the Arena Box Offices and through the Vivaticket network.
BCC Veneta is the main sponsor of the 2026 Artistic Season of Fondazione Arena at the Teatro Filarmonico.
EVENTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND STUDENTS. The 2026 programme of Arena Young also includes the entire Symphonic Season. Every Friday, as part of the Let’s Go to the Theatre initiative, schools can attend concerts at discounted rates, taking part in the Prelude one hour before the performance: an introduction to the plot, characters and language of musical theatre curated by Fondazione Arena. Info and bookings: Education, Culture and Training Office scuola@arenadiverona.it – tel. 0458051933
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