Is Beethoven’s music great? How do we know? NEC Piano Department Chair Bruce Brubaker encourages concertgoers to celebrate and reconsider Beethoven’s music and legacy. NEC pays tribute to the piano music of Beethoven throughout 2020 with more than 75 pianists performing in 13 concerts. They will perform every one of Beethoven’s solo piano works—the only concert series undertaking this programming in the world.

Well-known favorites like “Für Elise” and the “Moonlight” Sonata stand beside Beethoven’s rarely performed works in concert. Piano seminars and masterclasses by artists such as Stewart Goodyear, Andrew Schartmann, and Alessio Bax allow the public to join NEC students in exploring the challenges and complexities that pianists face in the world today. The “Beethoven 250” piano series ends with a monumental 10-hour tour de force of all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas performed in one day.

A virtuoso pianist himself, Beethoven composed dozens of works for the fortepiano, often making use of the new musical resources of the instrument as it developed rapidly throughout the composer’s lifetime. Approximately 1/3 of each concert program will feature rarely performed sets of variations that may offer insight into Beethoven’s own performances as an improviser.

This series of piano department concerts is dedicated to pianist Russell Sherman in his 90th birthday year. Mr. Sherman is Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at NEC, and the first American pianist to have recorded all of the piano sonatas and concertos of Beethoven.

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 1

Monday, February 10, 2020 | 7:30pm
NEC: Jordan Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 63: Nine variations for piano on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler (1782)

Opus 2, No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor

Opus 2, No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major

Opus 2, No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major

Sonata in F Minor, WoO 47, No. 2

Opus 7: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major ("Grand Sonata") (1797)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 2

Thursday, February 20, 2020 | 7:30pm

NEC: Jordan Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 89: Polonaise (1814)

WoO 73: Ten variations for piano on "La stessa, la stessissima" from Antonio Salieri's opera Falstaff

Opus 31, No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major

Opus 31, No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor ("Tempest")

Opus 31, No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major

WoO 69: Nine variations for piano on "Quant'e piu bello" from Giovanni Paisiello's opera La Molinara

Opus 110: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major (1821)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 3

Tuesday, February 25, 2020 | 8pm

NEC’s Williams Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 77: Six easy variations on an original theme for piano

Opus 81a: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major ("Das Lebewohl") (1810)

Opus 129: Rondo a capriccio in G major ("Rage over a lost penny") (1795)

WoO 78: Seven variations for piano on "God Save the King"

Opus 120: Thirty-three variations on a waltz by Diabelli in C major (1823)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 4

Tuesday, March 3, 2020 | 8pm
NEC’s Williams Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 54: Lustig-Traurig (Bagatelle) for piano in C major (1802)

Opus 33: Seven Bagatelles (1802)

Opus 119: Eleven new Bagatelles (1822)

WoO 53: Allegretto (Bagatelle) for piano in C minor (1796–97)

WoO 56: Allegretto (Bagatelle) for piano in C major (1803, rev. 1822)

WoO 52: Presto (Bagatelle) for piano in C minor (1795, rev. 1798 and 1822)

Opus 126: Six Bagatelles (1823)

WoO 59: Poco moto (Bagatelle) in A minor ("Für Elise") (c. 1810)

WoO 60: Ziemlich lebhaft (Bagatelle) for piano in B-flat Major (1818)

Opus 35: Fifteen variations and a fugue on an original theme in E-flat Major ("Eroica") (1802)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 5

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 | 8pm
NEC’s Williams Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 76: Six variations on an original theme (the Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens) in D major (1809)

Opus 14, No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major

Opus 14, No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major

WoO 71: Twelve variations for piano on the Russian dance from Paul Wranitzky's ballet Das Waldmädchen

WoO 57: Andante favori (1804)

Opus 53: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ("Waldstein") (1803)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 6

Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | 8pm
NEC’s Williams Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 77: Fantasia in G minor (1809)

WoO 66: Thirteen variations for piano on the aria "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" from Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's opera Das rote Käppchen

Opus 22: Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat major (1800)

Opus 106: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major ("Hammerklavier") (1818)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 7

October 2020 | NEC’s Jordan Hall | 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 13: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ("Pathétique") (1798)

Opus 10: Three Piano Sonatas (1798)

No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor

No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major

No. 3: Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major

WoO 79: Five variations for piano on "Rule, Britannia!"

Opus 111: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor (1822)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 8

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 90: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor (1814)

WoO 47, No. 3: Sonata in D major

Opus 54: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major (1804)

WoO 76: Eight variations for piano on "Tändeln und scherzen" from Franz Xaver Süssmayr's opera Soliman II

WoO 55: Prelude in F minor (1803)

Opus 57: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ("Appassionata") (1805)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 9

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 64: Six variations on a Swiss song for piano

Opus 34: Six variations on a theme in F major (1802)

WoO 50: Piano Sonata in F major (1790–92)

Opus 51: Two Rondos (1797)

No. 1: Rondo in C major

No. 2: Rondo in G major

Opus 6: Sonata for Piano, Four Hands in D major (1797)

Opus 28: Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ("Pastoral") (1801)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 10

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Opus 39: Two Preludes through all twelve major keys (1789)

WoO 65: Twenty-four variations for piano on Vincenzo Righini's aria "Vieni amore"

Opus 49, No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor

Opus 49, No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major

Opus 79: Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major (1809)

Opus 78: Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp Major ("À Thérèse") (1809)

Opus 101: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major (1816)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 11

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 70: Six variations for piano on "Nel cor più non mi sento" from Giovanni Paisiello's opera La Molinara

Opus 26: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major ("Funeral March") (1801)

WoO 72: Eight variations for piano on "Une fièvre brûlante" from André Grétry's opera Richard Coeur-de-lion

Opus 27, No. 1: Sonata quasi una fantasia in E-flat Major

Opus 27, No. 2: Sonata quasi una fantasia in C-sharp minor (“Moonlight”)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 12

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

WoO 47, No. 1: Sonata in E-flat major

WoO 68: Twelve variations for piano on the "Menuet a la Vigano" from Jakob Haibel's ballet La nozza disturbate

WoO 80: Thirty-two variations on an original theme in C minor (1806)

WoO 75: Seven variations for piano on "Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen" from Peter Winter's opera Das unterbrochene Opferfest

Opus 109: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major (1820)

Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano, Program 13: The Complete Piano Sonatas

Fall 2020 | NEC, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Tickets: Free with RSVP

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): The Complete Piano Sonatas. This monumental tribute performance to Beethoven is approximately 10 hours and features 35 NEC pianists performing Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas.