Opening night brings a unique experience of history’s definitive ode to togetherness. Leading into Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Marin Alsop combines the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Adrian Dunn Singers, and Senn High School Choir in Reena Esmail’s See Me, which she commissioned with the Baltimore Symphony to be a direct prelude to Beethoven’s music.

Expanding on the “Global Ode to Joy” she envisioned with Carnegie Hall for the composer’s 250th in 2020, Alsop then connects each movement through the global spirit of African drumming and a jazz trio. The “Ode to Joy” itself hits greater resonance through the words of former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, echoing the call for equality and freedom of the original Friedrich Schiller poem in contemporary terms and reflecting the experiences of community and politics today. This English adaptation was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the “Global Ode to Joy.”

Before the performances in the Pavilion, the Adrian Dunn Singers share music from Dunn’s Emancipation—recently televised in a PBS special concert—which fuses classical, gospel, and hip-hop music with spirituals to explore what it means to be Black and free in the United States in the 21st century. Inspired by the writing of Maya Angelou, Marlon Riggs, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and others, Emancipation honors the journeys of Black lives through genres created by Black Americans.