The Philadelphia Orchestra Commissions Iman Habibi on Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary

The Philadelphia Orchestra Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin

The Philadelphia Orchestra, in partnership with Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, is commissioning Iman Habibi to compose a new composition for its 2020 season in dialogue with Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 5 and 6.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin will give three performances of Habibi’s work between March 12-15, 2020 at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

UPDATE: While two performances of the commissioned piece, Jeder Baum spricht, were cancelled in light of the COVID-19 advisory, the orchestra did premiere the work to an empty hall, livestreaming it on facebook instead. The livestream was viewed by hundreds of thousands within the next few days, and broadcast multiple times on radio and TV stations across the world.

Learn more about the piece

Watch the WHYY TV (PBS) broadcast here

Watch on Youtube

Hear Iman’s interview with WRTI about the piece