“Sound diagnosis for the BSO's 'CSI' … an innovative program of Beethoven mixes music and medicine …
Didi Balle's script achieved concision, naturalness and good flow ... This look beneath the epidermis of a musical giant, CSI: Beethoven cut smoothly and entertainingly." Tim Smith, Music Critic The Baltimore Sun
“CSI: Beethoven was wildly successful. It drew far larger audiences than anticipated for mid-week performances.
It exceeded our expectations in terms of attendance, and people are still talking about the show."
Eileen Jackson, VP of Marketing, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Didi Balle's script achieved concision, naturalness and good flow ... This look beneath the epidermis of a musical giant, CSI: Beethoven cut smoothly and entertainingly." Tim Smith, Music Critic The Baltimore Sun
“CSI: Beethoven was wildly successful. It drew far larger audiences than anticipated for mid-week performances.
It exceeded our expectations in terms of attendance, and people are still talking about the show."
Eileen Jackson, VP of Marketing, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
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SYNOPSIS Music, Medicine, Mystery & Drama are seamlessly woven in this Symphonic or Chamber Music Play featuring your orchestra and Music Director and a cast of three actors in a fully staged classical music theatre production in Two Acts. As the concert opens Beethoven returns from the other side to discover the reasons for his untimely death and deafness, which doctors were unable to determine during his lifetime due to the nascent state of medicine. The CSI: Beethoven Team comprised of your orchestra’s Music Director (scripted on book), and three professional actors portraying Beethoven, a forensic scientist and a medical doctor unearth clues about his life, death and music that astound audiences while deepening their appreciation of his musical genius. The CSI Beethoven Team (Downstage Right) investigates the nature and cause of his deafness, and its impact on his composing, conducting, performing. A special computerized musical simulation created for the concert reveals how Beethoven might have heard his own music during various phases of progressive hearing loss until he was completely deaf (Ninth Symphony and Grosse Fugue). The CSI doctors examine the original autopsy report and other data to learn what caused his deafness: Childhood Trauma? Otosclerosis? Typhus? Or Paget's Disease? What lead to his untimely death? Kidney Disease? Syphilis? Cirrhosis? Lead Poisoning? Through a process of elimination the CSI Team determines the precise cause of both. Meanwhile Beethoven (Downstage Left) engages the audience in a stunning array of underscored soliloquies and scenes dramatizing his lifelong triumphs and struggles battling physical and psychological obstacles. And how creating his music transformed suffering into salvation. A engaging PPT program displays medical charts/terms juxtaposed with rare images provided by The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies depicting Beethoven's life and music. |
CSI: Beethoven© A Symphonic Play or Chamber Music Play In Two Acts by Didi Balle Music. Mystery. Medicine. Solving the Dual Mysteries of the Composer's Deafness and Death MUSIC Excepts from Symphonies 1-9 plus Chamber Music (Grosse Fuge, Cavatina) Cast Your Orchestra and Music Director (scripted) Two Medical Doctors (Actors) Ludwig Van Beethoven "Everyone in the orchestra business is concerned not only about reaching new audiences, but also re-engaging the ones they already have. Didi Balle's well-attended Symphonic Plays address both goals quite effectively." _ The Baltimore Sun
Didi Balle and Marin Alsop, CSI BeethovenInstrumentation: *322*3 – 4 2 3 0 tmp +2 (traps), str [6-5-4-4-3 stands]
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World Premiere MARIN ALSOP Music Director & Conductor Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Playwright & Stage Director Didi Balle Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Baltimore, MD Cast Ludwig von Beethoven (Tony Tsendas) Two Medical Doctors Your Music Director As CSI Music Expert Colorado Symphony Orchestra Denver Center Performing Arts Chamber Music Play Adaptation Premiered by University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series, April 2015 “Didi Balle and I share a vision of giving people deeper access to these great artists by personalizing the real-life stories behind the music. These innovative programs like CSI Beethoven offer audiences multi-dimensional access to the creators of classical music and have been extremely successful with audiences." MARIN ALSOP NPR "Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has had its share of resident composers over the years, but it's the first orchestra in the country to merge these two [music and theater] hallowed traditions by engaging a Playwright-in-Residence -- Didi Balle." Baltimore local NPR station interview. Listen HERE Audio Excerpt - Opening Monologue
Tony Tsendeas as Herr Beethoven Audio Excerpt #2 Deafness diagnosis
Dr. Charles Mackowiac CSI Team Audio Excerpt #3
Dr. Charles Limb CSI Team “This is our future in classical music programming: CSI Beethoven is highly entertaining, and emotionally very meaningful. And it brought in a cross-over audience.”
James W. Palermo, President and CEO The Colorado Symphony “We had a tremendous experience with CSI: Beethoven! The audience response has been tremendous. Not only was everyone thrilled with the program, but we also generated nearly 300 new to file patrons!” Anthony Pierce, Vice-President of Artistic Administration The Colorado Symphony “I attended both performances of “CSI Beethoven” and they were truly astounding … so entertaining and thought-provoking.” Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland Mary G. Ripple, M.D., Post Mortem Examiners Commission |
AVAILABLE: For as a ready-to-go concert for your orchestra. Please contact us for more information.