Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra: Karl Hirzer - Beethoven Lives Upstairs

Combining theatre with classical music

A combination of family theatre and classical concert, the celebrated children's story comes to Calgary in a wonderfully captivating new performance. Our story follows a series of letters between a nine-year old boy Christoph and a lonely old eccentric who is a lodger upstairs in his Vienna home.

Using the composer's most beautiful excerpts as a background, the letters go back and forth between the two, with Christoph discovering the true identity of the old man, and learning more about his inherent genius, as well as the torture suffered as a result of Beethoven's deafness. Originally created by Susan Hammond and written by Douglas Cowling, the production was first staged as a compact disc audiobook, and was developed for the stage by Dean Patrick Fleming.