Beethoven Exhibit Travels to New York City, Hosted by the Chelsea Music Festival and on Display at Steinway Hall June 6-11

Developed by DHL and Beethoven-Haus Bonn, BTHVN on Tour features one-of-a-kind exhibit along with multimedia elements to provide unique insights into the world of Ludwig van Beethoven. The NYC stop will include two intimate concerts presented by the Chelsea Music Festival, featuring works by Clara Schumann, one of the most influential pianists of the 19th century and one of the prolific champions of Beethoven during her career. The exhibit's U.S. tour coincides with the DHL 50th anniversary celebration this year

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DHL

Jun 05, 2019, 08:00 ET


NEW YORK, June 5, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- From June 6 to 11, DHL has partnered with the Chelsea Music Festival to bring a one-of-a-kind multimedia exhibit that documents the life and music of Ludwig von Beethoven to New York City where it will be on display at Steinway Hall during the run of the music festival. The BTHVN on Tour exhibit, which DHL developed with Beethoven-Haus Bonn commemorates the composer's 250th anniversary and is on a two-year world tour. New York City is its second U.S. stop.

In conjunction with the exhibit, The Chelsea Music Festival has curated two concerts that are inspired by BTHVN on Tour as well as 2019 Festival inspiration, Clara Schumann. These concerts, on June 6 and June 10, are included as a part of the 10th Season of the Festival, which has been hailed by The New York Times as a "gem of a series."

"We congratulate Beethoven-Haus Bonn and DHL for creating this world-touring exhibit, spreading excitement about Beethoven as we approach his 250th anniversary in 2020 when the Chelsea Music Festival will explore his legacy through the performing, visual and culinary arts," said Melinda Lee Masur and Ken-David Masur, Artistic Directors for the Chelsea Music Festival.

"Ludwig van Beethoven and his work continue to enthrall people everywhere, even 250 years after his birth! It's a great pleasure for us to contribute to the 2020 celebration with this multimedia exhibit on Beethoven's life and work, and we're proud to offer our logistics expertise to make the exhibit available to people around the world," says Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, which is based in Bonn, Germany, the Beethoven's birth place.
"Beethoven was a visionary. He revolutionized the music of his time and has since inspired generations of musicians. We are so happy to welcome BTHVN on Tour to Steinway Hall so we can share Beethoven's genius through this unique exhibit and hopefully inspire a love of classical music among new generations," says Ron Losby, President and CEO, Steinway & Sons.

DHL participated in the design of the traveling exhibit, which consists of eight modules with easily accessible displays focused on Beethoven's music and life. Multimedia elements provide insight into Beethoven's creative process, showing the individual steps he followed from his initial sketch book through to the finished musical score. An interactive timeline highlights the important events in Beethoven's life against the larger social and political events during his lifetime spanning from 1770 to 1827.

The exhibit also features unique pieces from the Beethoven-Haus collection, some being shown internationally for the first time, such as an original portrait from Andy Warhol's 1987 Beethoven Series and Beethoven's original ear trumpet. Special audio samples allow visitors to experience the extent of Beethoven's hearing loss. Also the Beethoven-Haus presents Beethoven´s Broadwood pianoforte from the Maene collection which will be exclusively on display at Steinway Hall – the only time it will be on display during the exhibit's world tour.

"Not only is the design challenging, but also the logistics behind this kind of exhibit require much expertise. In 2019 and 2020, 'BTHVN on Tour' will travel some 50,000 kilometers – via air and also by road freight. All the equipment needed for the exhibit, along with the delicate (in some cases irreplaceable) pieces from the Beethoven-Haus collection, need to be transported safely but also expediently. As a longtime partner of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, as well as other orchestras, exhibitions and museums, our specialists have years of experience transporting fragile and highly valuable objects," explains Gregor Klammer, project lead for DHL's Trade Fairs & Events GmbH for BTHVN On Tour exhibit. "The exhibit cargo is being transported in special containers featuring our DHL SmartSensor Technology to make sure optimal temperature and humidity levels are maintained."

"We're proud that Beethoven-Haus has entrusted DHL with transporting the priceless originals from their collection, which otherwise wouldn't leave the Beethoven-Haus museum. Numerous original exhibit pieces and high-quality facsimile reproductions created especially for the exhibition, combined with multimedia technology, give visitors a fascinating look into the life and work of Beethoven," says Greg Hewitt, CEO for DHL Express U.S. "It's even more special for us to have the exhibit's U.S. tour coincide with the DHL 50th anniversary celebration this year."

"With this project, we have the opportunity to engage international audiences so they can discover the relevance of Beethoven's life and music and the future of classical music for today's generations. With the help of DHL, this is a wonderful collaboration," said Malte Boecker, Director of Beethoven-Haus Bonn.

The exhibit is free to the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Steinway Hall is located at 1133 6th Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10036.

After New York, the exhibit will travel to other locations in the U.S. including Boston (Oct. 27 to Nov. 2) and then on to venues across Europe and Asia in 2020.

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