Beethoven Challenge: The World Youth Choir sings Beethoven’s Ode to Joy | Music Documentary

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The World Youth Choir sets itself a great challenge in 2024: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a symbol of peace and understanding between peoples, conducted by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun.

Together with Deutsche Welle, the Beethovensfest presents the “Campus-Projekt” every year as part of Beethovenfest - musical, democratic, diverse! The World Youth Choir, accompanied by the Bundesjugendorchester, will perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as “Nine,” a commissioned work by star composer Tan Dun. The Oscar winner from China is the artistic and emotional heart of the choir this year. He has been accompanying the group on its tour of Germany and the Netherlands.

The World Youth Choir currently brings together 41 nations and 85 singers between the ages of 17 and 26, who are selected each year by a jury. The 2024 ensemble includes: Felicity Afia Awuah from Ghana, Kevin Hernandez Toledo from Mexico, and Dariia Holiatina from Ukraine, who’s been living in exile in southern Germany for over two years. We visited the three of them at home and accompaned them from the first day of rehearsals to the big performance at the Bonn Opera House. We talked with them about their expectations, desires, and fears, about stage fright, nights spent on the bus, and friendships that last - and about the big question that plagues many in their situation: Should they stay here or return back home? They all come from politically unstable countries, torn apart by war, or facing economic hardship. The struggles of a generation facing a world that seems to be falling apart!

Now they’re taking on the Beethoven challenge: How will Felicity, Kevin, and Dariia measure up? The concert in Bonn marks the triumphant end to a long journey, the culmination of the intense weeks the World Youth Choir spent coming to grips with Beethoven.

© 2024 Deutsche Welle

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