The season’s final concert celebrates America’s 250th anniversary with a Leonard Bernstein masterpiece and culminates with a work that has been universally embraced as a beacon of hope and unity.

In December 1963, Bernstein was asked to compose a piece for the Cathedral of Chichester’s 1965 music festival using texts from the Psalms. From its premiere to the present day, Chichester Psalms has stirred audiences with its unique synthesis of biblical Hebrew verse and Christian choral tradition, expressing the composer’s deeply felt aspirations for peace and brotherhood.

Since his early twenties, Beethoven had wanted to write music for Schiller’s Ode to Joy, a glorified drinking song with a strong humanistic message. It had been ten years since he’d composed a symphony, and he was anxious to get on paper all the ideas which had been percolating in his imagination for thirty years. By the time of the work’s premiere, he was completely deaf. Although he beat time for the orchestra, the real conducting was done by someone else. At the end of the piece, he was still hunched over the score until one of the singers turned him around so he could see the applause he was unable to hear. This magnificent work takes us on a journey from darkness to light, building up to a transcendent and unforgettable finale. Performed by a lineup of remarkable soloists and Denver’s extraordinary Kantorei, the Ninth will remind you of the greatness and possibilities of the human spirit.