Ludwig van Beethoven spent most of his life in Vienna, where he wrote remarkable early works, triumphal mature compositions and transcendent late masterpieces.
Proud and touchy from the start, he grew increasingly prickly as deafness forced him into internal exile. Yet he also had a boisterous sense of humor and an eye for women, and spent many afternoons at his favorite Viennese coffeehouses, eating, drinking and chatting with acquaintances. Join us for an in-depth look into Beethoven and his world with author Harvey Sachs, then listen and watch as musicians and actors from the Ensemble for the Romantic Century bring his story to life. Finally, learn about Viennese Kaffeehaus culture as you taste historically accurate pastries and drinks.
Brief Biographies
Harvey Sachs is a music historian and the author of The Ninth: Beethoven and the Year 1824.
Kurt Gutenbrunner, chef and co-owner of Wallsé, Blaue Gans, the Upholstery Store, Cafe Kristall and Viennese coffeehouse Café Sabarsky, has earned praise for his modern interpretation of Austrian cuisine.
Ensemble for the Romantic Century, now in its 11th Season, creates theatrical concerts that interweave dramatic scripts based on letters, memoirs, and diaries with music.
Eve Wolf, pianist and writer, is executive artistic director and founder of Ensemble for the Romantic Century.
Cellist Raman Ramakrishnan is a founding member of the Daedalus Quartet and a faculty member of Columbia University’s Music Performance Program.
Cyrus Moshrefi as Beethoven.
Jonathon Harper Schlieman as Franz Wegeler.
Angela Calcaterra as Frau von Bernhard.
Kurt Gutenbrunner recently did an interview in The Village Voice's Fork in the Road about his new book, Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna. They asked him about a lack of "café culture" in America.
In the book, you talk a lot about the Austria's café culture. Why do you think we don't see that here in America as much?
It's all about history. We didn't know about coffee before the Turks came to Vienna in 1600. When the Turks came, we fought them back and then they left us the coffee. And it took time for us to figure out what do with it and so we invented the coffeehouse. In the 1800s and 1900s, all the artists used to work out of the coffeehouses so they became a meeting point for interaction and to hang out and work together. It became this culture of sitting in a café all day long and you have snacks and coffee and cakes. It's a very Central European mentality that you also see in Budapest and around Eastern Europe.
Read the full interview here.
Kurt Gutenbrunner, Harvey Sachs and the Ensemble for the Romantic Century will all be at 92YTribeca on November 13 for Eat, Drink & Think Like...Beethoven. This will be an in-depth look into Beethoven and his world. Listen and watch as musicians and actors from the Ensemble for the Romantic Century bring his story to life. Learn about Viennese Kaffeehaus culture as you taste historically accurate pastries and drinks.
Like Time Out New York said. "Non-boring lectures."
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