The Greek conductor and composer Michalis Economou leads the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the first of four concerts marking two hundred years since Beethoven’s death.
Michalis Economou, former chief conductor of the Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra, opens the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Beethoven bicentenary at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea on Tuesday 9 February 2027. The French pianist Elizabeth Sombart is the soloist.
Economou reached the podium as a composer. He has won eleven national and international composition competitions, the Dimitris Mitropoulos International Composition Competition among them, and has written works commissioned for Carnegie Hall and the Athens Megaron.
He has chaired the music department at Athens Technical University since 2004 and has been music director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. IMG Artists has represented him since 2012.
The series runs to four concerts across 2027, marking two hundred years since Beethoven died in 1827. It closes with the City of London Choir joining the orchestra for the Missa Solemnis.
This first programme opens on the Overture Leonore No. 3. The Fifth Piano Concerto, the Emperor, follows, with its improvisatory opening flourish. The evening ends on the Eighth Symphony and its gentle mockery of the newly invented metronome.
Sombart has recorded with the RPO and returns to the hall for the second concert in March.