Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61 | Thomas Zehetmair and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra

Thomas Zehetmair and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61 in the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic in Yekaterinburg. The Austrian conductor also took part as a soloist. The 2020 Beethovenfest in the composer’s hometown of Bonn had to be canceled on account of the pandemic – just as the 250th anniversary of his birth was about to be celebrated. In its stead, at the end of November another international festival of Ludwig van Beethoven’s work – this one called Be@thoven – was held in the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The program included, among others, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote the Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61 for Austrian violinist Franz Clement in 1806. Its premiere was underwhelming, and for many years the work was relegated solely to memory, before it was rediscovered in 1844 – performed again by 12-year-old Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, and the orchestra of the