Beethoven's Ninth, whose finale became the anthem of the European Union, opened Cadogan Hall for a concert marking Cyprus's EU presidency under the conductor Marios Papadopoulos.
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra marked Cyprus’s presidency of the European Union with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea on Monday 8 June 2026. The Cypriot conductor Marios Papadopoulos led the evening.
Beethoven wrote the symphony between 1822 and 1824 and conducted its premiere in Vienna on 7 May 1824. It was the first time a major composer gave a symphony’s finale to vocal soloists and a chorus.
That finale sets Schiller’s Ode to Joy. Its melody later became the anthem of the Council of Europe and then of the European Union.
Papadopoulos founded the orchestra as the Oxford Philomusica in 1998. He built it into the University of Oxford’s orchestra in residence and renamed it the Oxford Philharmonic in 2015.
The evening opened with the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, which Beethoven wrote 16 years earlier on the same idea. Its theme passes from orchestra to piano to chorus, and the pianist Anna Avramidou took the solo part he wrote for himself.
Four vocal soloists and the Crouch End Festival Chorus joined the orchestra for the symphony. The Cultural Section of the Cyprus High Commission supported the concert for London’s Cypriot and Greek community.