Global Ode to Joy’s growing list of official partners includes the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (Afghanistan), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (USA), Beethoven-Haus Bonn (Germany), Boston Symphony Orchestra (USA), Carnegie Hall (USA), Cité de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris (France), Cleveland Orchestra (USA), Community Arts Network (Austria), Czech Philharmonic (Czech Republic), El Sistema USA (USA), Europa Nostra (Belgium), European Union Youth Orchestra (Europe), Gateways Music Festival (USA), Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne (Germany), Jakarta Simfonia Orchestra (Indonesia), Konzerthaus Berlin (Germany), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Germany), Munich Philharmonic (Germany), National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (UK), National Youth Orchestra of the USA (USA), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand), NYO-2 (USA), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (Austria), Philadelphia Orchestra (USA), São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) (Brazil), Southbank Centre (UK), Stay at Home Choir (UK; international), Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Taipei Music Academy & Festival (Taiwan) and The Orchestra of the Americas (USA, Costa Rica, Canada, Brazil & Venezuela.).

Participating virtually from all over the world, this choir of thousands will premiere a new English adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s original Ode to Joy poem, commissioned from former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith by New York’s Carnegie Hall.

The Global Ode to Joy, is reimagined of the original work ‘Ode to Joy’. The work conducted by Marin Alsop, with support from Carnegie Hall as part of Beethoven’s Celebration. Alsop was set to lead performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on six continents with ten renowned orchestras. The concert experience was to be reimagined for local communities, presenting new music alongside the music of Beethoven and artists from each region. As part of each performance, the “Ode to Joy” text was to be translated into a local language.

With these plans postponed or cancelled the digital work evolved, with the new lyrics written by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Tracy K. Smith. This was sung by over a 1000 voices across 58 countries performing along with, in partnership, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Global Orchestra. This keep the spirit of the original project alive until we can all be back together in person.