Spokane Symphony rings in New Year with Beethoven’s Ninth

The Spokane Symphony will conclude 2025 and ring in the New Year with Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9.

For James Lowe, the symphony’s music director and conductor, it only seems fitting that Beethoven’s final symphony brings a sense of conclusion as well as new beginnings. Although the first movement displays the dynamic struggles of fighting continued adversary, by the fourth and final movement, light melodies and a climax of epic proportions highlight humanity’s sheer sense of will and hope above all.

“It starts in darkness, and obviously as we’re speaking yesterday was the solstice, the darkest day of the year, and now we’re turning towards the light again,” Lowe said. “That’s what this piece does through the whole journey as a work … the message is of human unity, and I think that’s a beautiful message to end the year with.”

The piece explores a plethora of themes and evokes a wide range of emotions. Although the music gradually pieces itself together from this “almost elemental” sense of darkness before the methodical meandering of the third movement, the finale combusts into a new area of beauty completely distinct from the emotional turmoil of the rest of the piece.

“The feeling of joy and exhilaration at the end of the piece, the last movement, ramps up and up and up until really the ending,” Lowe said. “But it only works because you start in the darkness at the beginning. I think if it was just all joy all the time, ‘meh,’ it wouldn’t be so good.”

The fourth and final movement is also famously known as “Ode to Joy,” which will feature the volunteer Spokane Symphony Chorale to lift the strings and create a pure, sensational wall of sound aimed toward the seats of the Fox Theater.

“I have the incredible privilege of standing in front of all of that sound, and every year I feel I just want to stop conducting and just let that wall of sound hit me,” Lowe said. “That moment when that great chorus smashes in is really one of the big highlights of the year for me.”

It isn’t uncommon for Beethoven’s Ninth to be heralded as not only the legendary composer’s magnum opus, but as the single greatest symphony of all time (especially when considering he was almost completely deaf at the time of composition).

Lowe would argue that Beethoven’s Third and Fifth are also strong contenders, but nonetheless all three stand as a true testament to the timeless nature and sheer scale of Beethoven’s abilities.

“I couldn’t possibly say what is the best symphony ever written in the same way that you can’t say which is the greatest bottle of wine ever produced,” Lowe said. “But you do know that the right bottle of wine, at the right time with the right people, is perfect. And I think, for me, the Ninth is the ideal work for this kind of turning of the year.”

Such an event and iconic piece of music also have the ability to conjure recollection on the year soon to have come and gone. For Lowe, he looks back on 2025 with a sense of pride concerning the Spokane Symphony’s efforts to further branch out into the community. The symphony expanded efforts such as the Lullaby Project, which creates unique lullabies for new parents, their work with local schools, and their dementia program that brings classical music to those living with dementia.

“I think the future of every symphony orchestra in the U.S. has to be not just about what you do on stage, but what you do out in the community, and the fact that we have grown that exponentially in the last year is something I’m extremely proud of,” Lowe said. “Jason Moody, our community and engagement officer here, has just done incredible work and I’m incredibly proud of that work. I think that is where the future lies.”