Composer Ludwig van Beethoven may not seem to have much in common with four musicians named John, Paul, George and Ringo, but a concert on Saturday will bring them all together for a fun musical time.
The Anthracite Philharmonic will present "Beethoven to The Beatles" at 7 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 330 W. Market St., Pottsville. The concert is under the direction of Mark P. Thomas, artistic director, conductor and one of the founders of the orchestra. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students.
The first part of the concert features Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, usually referred to as his "Fifth Symphony" and recognized by its opening notes. The second half involves a mixture of Beatles classics from all stages of the band's career.
"We wanted to make the symphony more friendly-oriented with music that people would recognize," Thomas said. "People recognize The Beatles. People recognize Beethoven, especially the Fifth Symphony. My idea was do a major work in the first half that people would recognize, and in the second half would be The Beatles, whose music is recognized by people, even those born after their time. You hear the music everywhere, from commercials to movies to elevators. You're going to recognize the music in this concert."
AP board member Linda Kriner, who is involved with the hiring of musicians, is one of the founders of the organization.
"There was a symphony here at one time and it fell apart," Kriner said. "Dr. Thomas and I and other people decided we would like to try to form a new one. That was in 2010. We got our 501(c)3 status (nonprofit) in 2011, put a board together and started raising money. We've done Christmas concerts and summer concerts, but it was always the aim to do a major classical concert, and this is the first time that we've been able to do this."
Kriner said that Thomas decides the music, and it turned out to be a coincidence that The Beatles music was part of the concert.
"It was after the fact that this year is the 50th anniversary of The Beatles on television," Kriner said, referring to The Beatles appearing for the first time live on The Ed Sullivan Show on American television in 1964 with an estimated 73 million people watching.
"Beethoven was initiating new music of his time, He was kind of a radical, just like The Beatles were the radicals who also changed music," Kriner said. "They are in a way the classical artists of our time. Beethoven was the beginning of the transition from the Classical period of music to the Romantic period. That's why he was considered radical at the time."
"Both Beethoven and The Beatles changed the music of their time," Thomas said. "Beethoven started taking risks and experimenting with the music, like changing chords and using notes that didn't quite fit the chords and playing very strong and soft sections. He really changed the Classical period into the Romantic period. And it was the same with The Beatles. They used the blues as their roots, but they changed it into what became the rock sound. And they experimented with all types of music, like hard rock, the drug culture they got into with Indian music and then with classical music when they got into using strings in their productions at the end. McCartney actually ended up writing a symphony."
Kriner said there are 36 musicians performing in this concert.
"You can have up to 50 musicians, but money-wise we try to keep things in a range that we can pay for," Kriner said. "It works at 36, so there is more than enough to perform. Also, most of the musicians are local, which was our aim from the beginning."
Thomas and Kriner both said that finding musicians who play stringed instruments are more difficult to find, so they need to look outside the county.
"We don't have string programs here, so the kids don't learn those instruments," Kriner said. "Mark has some string players come up from his school district (Upper Perkiomen), and we use younger players when we can."
When asked whether the Beatles' classic "Roll Over, Beethoven" would be part of the concert, Thomas said it was not, but not for lack of trying.
"It had crossed my mind, but I couldn't find a good arrangement for strings," Thomas said. "That would have been a nice catch. It would have been very good if I could have found it."
For more information about the orchestra, the website is www.antphil.org.