Beethoven’s European legacy inspires a new work: EU Composer Residency launched

As part of a Europe-wide application and selection process, a professional jury has selected French composer Benoît Menut as the first Beethoven Frühling EU Composer in Residence. Menut will spend a residency in Lower Austria, exploring the places closely connected to Beethoven’s life and work and developing a new orchestral composition inspired by Beethoven’s European spirit and reimagined for the present.

The new work will receive its world premiere on 20 May 2027 at Casino Baden, at the opening concert of the Beethoven Frühling Festival. It will be performed by the Beethoven Frühling Festival Orchestra under the direction of its artistic director, Dorothy Khadem-Missagh.

From Beethoven’s Europe to the Europe of today

The year 2027 will mark the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death. The EU Composer Residency uses this occasion to connect Beethoven’s cultural legacy and European ideas with contemporary musical creation.

Beethoven’s relationship with Lower Austria is an important part of this story. In Baden, he worked, among other things, on his Ninth Symphony, whose Ode to Joy later became the anthem of the European Union. 

Two centuries after Beethoven’s death, a new orchestral work will therefore be created in the region where parts of the music that became today’s European anthem were composed, this time reflecting on Europe as it is today.

“Dialogue and cultural diversity are among Europe’s great strengths. Through the Beethoven Frühling EU Composer Residency, our shared cultural heritage is connected with a new work as we commemorate Beethoven in 2027. The project with the Beethoven Frühling Festival shows that European culture is truly alive when we give it a future.”

- H.E. Carl Hallergård, Ambassador of the European Union and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the International Organisations in Vienna

A bold European spirit

Beethoven was known for his artistic independence, his willingness to challenge conventions and his determination to push the boundaries of his craft. His boldness and creative courage continue to resonate with Europe today.

The EU Composer Residency reflects this spirit by giving a contemporary European composer the opportunity to create something new while engaging with a shared cultural heritage.

As Ambassador Hallergård put it at the launch of the Residency:

“A bold Europe is a Europe that is confident in its diversity, open to dialogue, and willing to look towards the future while building on its common heritage.”

The Residency is therefore not about simply looking back at Beethoven. It is about taking his legacy forward.

Benoît Menut: a composer inspired by Beethoven

Benoît Menut was selected from a strong field of applications from more than ten European countries. He is one of the prominent French composers of his generation and will be featured at the renowned Présences Festival of Radio France in February 2027.

The residency marks a new chapter in Menut’s more than ten-year artistic engagement with Beethoven. His works inspired by Beethoven include Scherzo, written in 2016, Omaggio, three symphonic resonances in homage to Beethoven, and the large-scale project Beethoven Celtique, which explored Beethoven’s arrangements of Celtic songs for orchestra.

During his residency, Menut will visit Beethoven-related sites including Baden, Mödling and Gneixendorf, as well as engage with the Beethoven Frühling Festival and its surroundings. These encounters will serve as inspiration for his new composition, rather than prescribing what the work should be.

“For generations of composers, Beethoven has been a point of reference — someone to follow, to draw inspiration from, or even to challenge. This is precisely the conscious engagement that we invite. The encounter with Beethoven and these places is a source of inspiration for music today.”

— Dorothy Khadem-Missagh, Artistic Director and Founder of Beethoven Frühling

A European orchestra for a European project

The Beethoven Frühling Festival Orchestra itself reflects the European dimension of the project. Founded in 2022, it brings together musicians from more than 20 nations, embodying the exchange and diversity at the heart of the EU Composer Residency. The new composition will be premiered by the orchestra under the direction of Dorothy Khadem-Missagh at the opening concert of Beethoven Frühling on 20 May 2027 at Casino Baden.

The EU Composer Residency aims to become a lasting platform for contemporary European composition, supporting living European composers and connecting Beethoven’s legacy with new artistic voices. It is a joint initiative of the Beethoven Frühling Festival and the Delegation of the European Union to the International Organisations in Vienna.