Herbert Blomstedt will return to the New York Philharmonic to lead the Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8, Wednesday, February 22, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 24 at 11:00 a.m.; and Saturday, February 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Now celebrating his 90th birthday season, Herbert Blomstedt recorded Beethoven’s complete symphonies with the Dresden Staatskapelle between 1975 and 1980. In its review of his performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at the BBC Proms in August 2016, The Guardian wrote that Mr. Blomstedt “may be nearly 90 but remains an invigorating presence on the podium, and he drove his players through an emphatic performance.”
The New York Philharmonic gave the U.S. Premieres of both works, which Beethoven completed in 1812: it performed the Seventh Symphony on November 18, 1843, led by the Orchestra’s founder, Ureli Corelli Hill, and the Eighth Symphony on November 16, 1844, conducted by George Loder.
