“Beethoven’s Ghost,” a new episode of Great Performances’ Now Hear This program hosted by violinist and conductor Scott Yoo, will air on PBS stations on October 29. Interweaving documentary, performance, and theatrical storytelling, the episode explores the mind of the composer through dramatized conversations between the spirits of Beethoven and Freud. Yoo and his fellow musicians—including pianist Anna Polonsky, cellist Bion Tsang, violist Toby Appel, and violinist Emily Daggett Smith—visit a historic manor in the Berkshires to better understand Beethoven by performing and recording some of his most personal work, including his famous “Ghost Trio.” Unbeknownst to them, they’ve summoned the ghost of the composer, trailed by the spirit of Sigmund Freud, who attempts to analyze him. The episode is part of #PBSForTheArts, a multiplatform campaign that celebrates the arts in America. Scott Yoo is host and executive producer of Now Hear This; conductor of the Colorado College Music Festival; chief conductor and artistic director of the Mexico City Philharmonic; and music director of Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, California.
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