Bogota is Beethoven

Bogota is in the middle of a big cultural event called Bogota is Beethoven.  It’s the first of its kind, and apparently they will alternate from now on with the Bogota theater festival (which I believe is Latin America’s biggest live theater event), such that in two years they’ll have Bogota is Mozart.  Anyway, as I understand, the event consists in inviting major orchestras from all over the world to perform Beethoven pieces.  They also broadcast a few of the concerts live on the city’s public TV network.  So this Holy Week, as we were on vacation at my father-in-law’s farm in rural Santander, we were treated to the fifth symphony, the second, and an overture from Fidelio.  In particular I enjoyed watching a Hungarian orchestra perform the Ninth Symphony, with the Bogota opera choir doing the chorus work.  It was an amazing collaboration between people from different parts of the world, and truly showed the unifying power of a shared cultural canon like Classical music.

In short, I was really proud of Bogota during this event.  Especially because I could enjoy the best of its cultural scene without actually being there to deal with the actual people who live there!