Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with The Hanover Band

Conductor Zvonimir Hačko returns to Cadogan Hall with The Hanover Band to present one of music’s most iconic and transcendent works: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the ‘Choral’. This is the symphony that changed everything – the moment when a great composer dared to add the human voice to the symphonic form, setting Schiller’s Ode to Joy to music that has inspired millions ever since. It remains one of the most joyful, unified and profoundly moving pieces ever composed.

Before the Ninth comes a work of lyrical brilliance: Schumann’s Piano Concerto, performed by the incomparable Danny Driver on an 1847 Broadwood Grand from the Chris Maene Collection in Antwerp. This is a chance to experience one of today’s finest pianists bringing to life a cornerstone of the Romantic repertoire on a period instrument (pictured below).

Opening the evening is Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, a thrilling symphonic overture to Goethe’s play Egmont for which Beethoven wrote incidental music.

The Hanover Band, specialists in historically informed performance with an international reputation for excellence, brings authentic period-instrument colour to these masterworks, while Zvonimir Hačko’s thoughtful and deeply committed conducting draws out the full emotional and musical depth of these extraordinary scores.

Presented by the International Centre for Contemporary Music, London (ICCM) at Beethoven Summit ’26, produced in collaboration with The Hanover Band.