May 7th, 1824 - May 7th, 2024

May 7th, 2024 will mark the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Much has been said about the Ninth Symphony in those 200 years since its first premiere. Indeed, I should know, I wrote an entire book on the Ninth! Leonard Bernstein himself, in the 80s, famously remarked that even then the world was still very far from achieving the vision for humanity that the Ninth vividly illustrates for us.

As we enter the third century of its existence, first and foremost, that is what should be top of mind for all of us. Have we achieved some semblance of the world where Beethoven urged us–implored us–to go, to pursue, with his momentous Ninth Symphony? Despite everything else that can be said about the Ninth–the spiritual components, the more mystical–it is this vision for humanity that the Ninth lays out that we most urgently need to keep track of, and to achieve. Like anything worth doing in life, it is not an easy task. Like a diet, you must keep track of it. Own it. Keep strict control of it. And then, after enough time and effort, enough repetition and muscle memory, you can achieve the vision that you had for yourself.

Now I had hoped to commemorate this day with a number of ambitious projects. Foremost among them, a completely new way of hearing and experiencing the Ninth. A version of Beethoven Nine played in a rock arrangement. In fact, my original hope was to have it performed live. But unfortunately, due to a number of circumstances beyond my control, as well as some serious setbacks and medical struggles, I was unable to complete the project in time.

I had also hoped that the 200th anniversary of the Ninth would garner more attention all over the world than it has ended up doing–Beethoven’s 250th birthday certainly did! But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But with all that said, there is still good news: instead of the 200th anniversary automatically being something special for me, I intend to take matters into my own hands and make something special for it. Now, instead of having these things produced in time for the 200th anniversary, I will be using the 200th anniversary as a catalyst to announce our ambitious plans in honor of 200 plus years of the Ninth.

The first step on that journey, my book, of course, has already been completed. Coming later this year and in the near future, I have plans to release an audiobook; a second edition with way more details and depth; and that Beethoven Nine rock production that I mentioned earlier is still coming, just a little later. Also, I intend to announce a new podcast in the near future, specifically focused around Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the lessons that can be gleaned from that and applied to our current everyday life. The situations that we see happening in the world for which Beethoven–not only Beethoven, but specifically Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony–might have something to “say” about. I plan to conduct a number of interviews as well for that podcast with people from all walks of life, and especially to share their subjective interpretation and experience of the Ninth, just as I do in my own book.

I also intend to develop a free course to be launched soon, where I can go more in-depth and work more closely with anyone in the world who wants to learn more about the Ninth Symphony–particularly–not just the vocal singing aspect of it. Certainly, that more people have learned about than anything else regarding the Ninth, in terms of formal education. In this educational course I hope to teach the philosophy, the meaning, the depth, not just the philosophy and the meaning, because I think almost everyone understands there is some philosophy and meaning behind it, but the sheer depth of it all is often hard to comprehend. I certainly don’t fully comprehend it myself, but I’m thankful to have what I think is a fairly solid understanding of that depth. Especially for people who may be new to the symphony. Because again, the Ninth can teach us all so much about humanity and life and our place in this world. It’s an invaluable lesson to learn. And the earlier it’s learned, the better. Don’t just let it be some classical music–no! The Ninth has some real beautiful–beautiful–lessons to teach us all. In fact, no human should exist for very long without understanding more about this symphony. Particularly because it’s not just about the symphony. It’s about life. It’s about all our lives. It’s about your life.

Finally, I intend to put together a community where we can collaborate and discuss more about the Ninth, and those few folks who really feel that connection with the Ninth as strongly as I do can all come together and find community.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go according to plan. And certainly that was as much the case here as it is in the fact that humanity still hasn’t reached the vision of the Ninth within the past 200 years. But, just as much as I hope to use this as a catalyst to turn my own life around in those ways, I hope that we can all, as a race, achieve those goals for all of humanity and our future generations.