LONDON,
27-30 March 2026
Beethoven Conference
BEETHOVEN SUMMIT '26
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Summit Schedule
Beethoven Conference
27-30 March 2026, London
Friday, 27 March
Admiral's House, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
11:30
12:00 - 13:00
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:30
16:00 - 17:00
REGISTRATION & WELCOME
Delegates arrive, tea & coffee
OPENING KEYNOTE
Beethoven's Summits
Professor Laura Tunbridge
Heather Professor of Music,
University of Oxford
Lunch Break
LECTURE & Q&A
Opp. 123-125 in Concert: Why Beethoven's 1824 Academy Still Resonates
Professor Birgit Lodes
University of Vienna
Tea Break
CONCERT: Beethoven String Quartets
Quartet Isolde
Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18, No. 2
Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 135
Sunday, 29 March
Admiral's House, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
09:30 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:15
11:15 - 12:15
12:15 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:15
15:15 - 16:45
Morning Tea & Coffee
LECTURE & Q&A
Examining Art in Time of War: The International Research Project
“Beethoven and His Music in Nazi-Occupied European Countries”
Professor Dr. Michael Custodis
University of Muenster
Tea Break
LECTURE & Q&A
Beethoven on the Clavichord: a Performer's View
Professor Terence Charlston
Royal College of Music
Lunch Break
LECTURE & Q&A
Discussions in the Conversation Books about Performance
Issues in Beethoven’s Late Works
Dr. Susan Cooper
Independent Researcher
Tea Break
PANEL | Audience Q&A
Beethoven and the Future
Chair Dr. Marten Noorduin
09:30 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:15
12:30 - 13:45
13:45 - 15:00
15:00 - 16:30
16:45 - 17:45
19:30 - 21:00
Saturday, 28 March
Admiral's House, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Morning Tea & Coffee
LECTURE & Q&A
Some Performance Issues in Beethoven’s Ninth Symhony
Professor Barry Cooper
Manchester University
LECTURE & Q&A
Through the Eyes of Beethoven: Clues to Performance Practice and Keyboard Technique via his Manuscripts and Sketches
Dr. Siân Derry
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Lunch Break
LECTURE & Q&A
Echoes of Dedication: Beethoven and the Women Who Shaped His Art
Professor Birgit Lodes
University of Vienna
LECTURE & Q&A
Deafness, Slowness, and Transcendence in Beethoven's Late Works
Dr. Marten Noorduin
State Institute for Music Research, Berlin
LECTURE & Q&A
Conducting Beethoven: In Search of Authenticity
Speaker tba
EVENING CONCERT | Chamber Works by Mendelssohn & Beethoven
Chamber Players of the Hanover Band
Mendelssohn: String Octet Op. 20 (1825)
Beethoven: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 (1800)
Monday, 30 March
Cadogan Hall, London
10:30 - 13:30
13:30 - 14:30
14:30 - 15:45
15:45 - 18:00
18:00 - 19:00
19:30 - 21:30
MUSIC IN THE MAKING: OPEN REHEARSAL
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9; Schumann: Piano Concerto
Soloists/Chorus/Orchestra (see performers listing below)
Rehearsal open to the public (no admission fee)
Lunch Break
LECTURE - RECITAL
Reincarnations: Experimental Reinterpretations of
Beethoven’s Late Piano Sonatas
Associate Professor Emil Gryesten
Free Time
PRE-CONCERT EVENT
Professor Barry Cooper; Professor Laura Tunbridge, and
the members of the Hanover Band
Chaired by Dr. Christina Guillaumier
CLOSING CONCERT | BEETHOVEN & SCHUMANN
Cadogan Hall, London
Danny Driver, piano
Elin Pritchard, soprano
Vistoria Simmonds, Alto
Andrés Presno, tenor
Darren Jeffery, bass-baritone
Covent Garden Chorus
The Hanover Band
Zvonimir Hačko, conductor
Beethoven: Egmont Overture
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A-Minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 “Choral”
ART CREDIT: above
Improvisation on Klimt's Choir of Angels
Detail from the mural The Beethoven Frieze
LONDON,
27-30 March 2026
Beethoven Conference
BEETHOVEN SUMMIT '26
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BEETHOVEN SUMMIT ‘ 26 is a four-day conference -- an event devoted to exploring Beethoven’s music through performance alongside the latest research in historical practice. The Summit brings together performers, scholars, and music lovers to celebrate and enrich our understanding of Beethoven’s work through historically informed performances, open dialogue, and shared insights from recent scholarship. Our goal is to move closer to the sound world Beethoven himself imagined, deepening both our appreciation and enjoyment of his creative genius.
Dr. Christina Guillaumier
Summit Director
Zvonimir Hačko
ICCM Music Director
Prof. Barry Cooper Musicologist/Principal Advisor
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Our event focuses on the historical, musicological and performance-practice issues of the first half of 19th-century Vienna. Conference activities include presentations of scholarly papers and panel discussions by the world’s leading Beethoven scholars. Interactive forums will give the public an opportunity to ask questions and engage with the issues pertinent to the topic.
Conference events are primarily held at Admiral’s House, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and are free and open to the public. For further information, please consult the Summit Schedule.
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
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Prof. Laura Tunbridge
Oxford University
Historical Musicology. Specialty: Music of Beethoven and the Viennese Classical Period
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Prof. Terence Charlston
Chair of Historical Keyboard Instruments and Professor of Harpsichord,
Royal College of Music
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Prof. Barry Cooper Prof. Manchester University Manchester, UK, editor of the Urtext edition of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.
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Dr. Susan Cooper Beethoven scholar; Independent Researcher Manchester
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Prof. Dr. Michael Custodis Professor for Contemporary Music and Systematic Musicology, University of Muster
Dr. Siân Derry
Senior Lecturer in Music and Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
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Prof. Emil Gryesten
Pianist: Associate Professor, Royal Danish Academy of Music
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Dr. Birgit Lodes
Historical Musicologist, University of Vienna, Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair at Stanford University
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Dr. Marten Noorduin Researcher, State Institute for Music Research (SIMPK), Berlin
Dr Christina Guillaumier
Summit Director
Director of Research &
Global Engagement at
ICCM London / New York
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Zvonimir Hačko
Conductor
ICCM Music Director
Curator of the Summit Project
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Prof. Barry Cooper
Musicologist
Manchester University
Principal Advisor
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CONCERTS AT THE CONFERENCE
Beethoven: Selected String Quartets Friday, 27 March
Quartet Isolde
Schubert and Beethoven
Saturday, 28 March
Schubert String Quartet
Beethoven Septet
Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Sunday, 29 March
Lecture-Recital
Beethoven & Schumann
Monday, 30 March
Danny Driver, piano
Soloists,
Covent Garden Chorus,
The Hanover Band
Zvonimir Hačko, conductor
ARTISTS & ENSEMBLES
Elin Pritchard, soprano
Victoria Simmonds, alto
Andrés Presno, tenor
Darren Jeffery, baritone
Danny Driver, piano
Quartet Isolde
Chamber Players of THB
Tori Longdon, conductor
Covent Garden Chorus
THB String Quartet
Emil Gryesten, piano
The Hanover Band
Zvonimir Hačko, conductor
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SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS
The Summit Opens on Friday, 27 March
Meet the summit scholars and artists at Admiral’s House, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London -- home of the Summit (more information).
Keynote by Prof. Laura Tunbridge - Friday, 27 March
Professor Laura Tunbridge, FBA, Heather Professor of Music at Oxford University, will open the four-day international conference with a keynote address entitled Beethoven’s Summits.
Interactive Panels - 28 & 29 March (Saturday & Sunday)
Two Interactive panels with key scholars, musicians and journalists will focus on Beethoven: Interpreting Beethoven Today, and Beethoven and the Future.
Concert: Schubert & Beethoven - Saturday, 28 March Chamber Players of The Hanover Band present two seminal works of the period: Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor and Beethoven’s Septet.
Lecture: Performance issues of Beethoven’s 9th -
Saturday, 28 March
Barry Cooper, a renowned Beethoven scholar, discusses some fascinating performance issues found in Beethoven’s most famous work.
Lecture-Recital - Sunday 29 March
Danish concert pianist Emil Gryesten presents a talk entitled Reincarnations: Experimental reinterpretations of Beethoven’s Late Piano Sonatas.
Concert: Beethoven’s 9th and Schumann’s Piano Concerto - Monday, 30 March, Cadogan Hall
Performed on period instruments three famous masterworks close the Summit with pianist Danny Driver and The Hanover Band - Zvonimir Hačko, conductor.
At the Summit, we are us-
ing most reliable scholarly editions available: Bären-reiter’s Urtext editions. They are highly respected pub-lications of classical music, offering authentic, source-based texts of com-posers’ works that aim at presenting music as the composer intended it to be -- free from later editorial additions, often featuring critical commen-taries, and available in
multiple languages.
UPCOMING RECORDINGS
ICCM London/ICCM New York have launched a retrospective series called Mavericks & Iconoclasts/ The Modernists Series which traces the trajectory of ground-breaking works from the 19th century to the present. The recording of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis marks the beginning of this ambitious journey.
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BEETHOVEN
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STRAVINSKY
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