Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela: Gustavo Dudamel, music director

BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 9

Mariana Ortiz, soprano
J'nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Guerrero, tenor
Soloman Howard, bass

Star conductor Gustavo Dudamel conducts the dynamic Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in this second program of its all-Beethoven Cal Performances residency, presenting the composer's last and largest symphony, the Ninth, in the spectacular panorama of the Greek Theatre. The colossal work, with its majestic "Ode to Joy," is a call for universal brotherhood, and who better to deliver this message than Dudamel, whose musical leadership resounds across the globe, and whose performances of the Ninth have been described as "rapturous," reaching "record levels of exhilaration" (Los Angeles Times).