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Beethoven’s Nightmare

Beethoven’s Nightmare
Beethoven’s Nightmare

Imagine if Beethoven…

…woke up from his cryogenic tomb only to “hear” what people are doing to his music today… would he just wish to be dead again? Igudesman & Joo tackle this question with their signature mischief and fun, reinventing and recomposing the musical genius of the great mastermind Beethoven.

At Beethoven Dot Com, we offer a wide variety of products to suit the needs of every client. It’s shopping–and Beethoven–rediscovered. This season’s hottest line features:

“Beethoven’s Nightmare”- You’ve heard about the seven circles of Hell, but what about the seven circles of Beethoven? Let Igudesman & Joo guide you as you descend through the composer’s haunting nightmares and multi-layered personality, not to mention witness a stylish choleric outbreak or two.

 “Joyful Variations”-  An electrifying set of variations for symphony orchestra and soloists on themes from the ninth Symphony. Each variation is treated with a national flair and cultural pizzazz from nine different countries, taking one on a musical kaleidoscopic journey that goes around the globe from Bonn to the USA and back.

“Beethoven Takes Five”- Beethoven’s most famous four-note motif and turned it into a five- beat measure in this riotously fun piece. Funky rhythms and grooves are combined with the melodies of Beethoven to create the perfect pairing.

 “They Call me Ludwig”- A humorous song from the perspective of the composer about how miserable his life is and how he never gets to have any fun. And, hey, don’t forget that those bags under his eyes are designer.

“For a Lease”- Arguably the most “cheesy” work by Ludwig Van “Für Elise” undertakes a makeover and is transformed to a quirky, yet ethereal and utterly original work.

In the true spirit of authenticity, as when Franz Clemens would perform tricks with his violin in between movements of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, Igudesman & Joo too will intersperse musical sketch comedy during the performance using Beethoven’s music. This will include some old favourites such as “Credit Card,” and new opuses such as “Beethoven World Record,” and “Für Elise Forever” from their duo show, “And Now Beethoven”.

Igudesman & Joo’s celebration of Beethoven’s Anniversary will be the hottest ticket in town. Expect the unexpected and brace yourself for an unforgettable night.

What others say

“A Lit­tle Night­mare Music as a title is a mis­nomer… Igudes­man and Joo are a DREAM …watch them!“

Sir Roger Moore
Actor

“Describ­ing the Igudes­man & Joo humor in detail would be to deflate its bril­liance. For the put-­upon Igudes­man, think Jack Benny and Jascha Heifetz rolled into one. For the zany Joo, try an unholy Chico Marx, Vladimir Horowitz and Jerry Lewis mash-­up […] The Igudes­man & Joo anthem is Glo­ria Gaynor’s ‘70s hit song “I Will Sur­vive.” Igudes­man begins it as if singing a Russ­ian folk song, and he elec­tri­fies it by play­ing on the vio­lin strings with an elec­tric swiz­zle stick (on a price­less 1717 Santo Seraphin vio­lin, no less). Ulti­mately, it sur­vives –­ barely and hilar­i­ously — as an unclas­si­fi­able audi­ence sing‐along. But the idea of sur­viv­ing is also a seri­ous busi­ness with these two mirac­u­lous per­form­ers“

Los Angeles Times
Mark Swed

“Igudes­man and Joo are not only musi­cal vir­tu­osi but also comic mae­stros. Any thing they touch turns to gold and I am enchanted by them every time I see them. Def­i­nitely one of the fun­ni­est and most enter­tain­ing shows I have ever seen and I can’t wait to see them again in action!“

Mischa Maisky
Cellist

Upcoming shows Beethoven's Nightmare

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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And Now Beethoven

And Now Beethoven
And Now Beethoven

Igudesman & Joo play Beethoven

That’s it. That’s the whole premise of this show. Some people do not like Beethoven. Some people are dense and do not realise how funny Beethoven is. Fortunately for those people, Igudesman & Joo are here to help (at least, with Beethoven’s humor. There’s nothing they can do about your taste).

Taking their cue from Franz Clement and Yehudi Menuhin, Igudesman & Joo will speak to the audience between movements upside down. And yes, there is evidence to support this strange performance practice: Franz Clement, the violinist who gave the world premiere of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto showed off between movements by playing his violin upside down. Then, Yehudi Menuhin, Igudesman’s and Joo’s mentor, conducted Beethoven with the Berlin Philharmonic while doing a headstand. If this isn’t enough to convince those of you worried about historically informed performances, we’re not sure what could be!

What will they speak about? Well, wouldn’t you like to hear—no offense, Ludwig. Why did Beethoven dunk his head in cold water every day, you ask? Why did he love to throw soup around? Was his favorite fruit really “Ba-na-na-naaaaa”? If you didn’t understand those questions, especially that last one, you definitely need to come see this show.

The program will include Sonatas for Piano and Violin by Ludwig van Beethoven: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. We’ll stop at number 10, not because we want to but because we have to. Even Beethoven stopped at 10. . . Because he died. . .

Program will also include a very unique transcription of a Piano and Violin Sonata, for when the pianist forgets to show up, and, of course, variations on Beethoven’s greatest masterpiece, his finest work, his magnus opus: “Für Elise.”

This show is created in honour of the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Come see this exclusive show in 2020, before it’s too late and the occasion ends! Otherwise you’ll just have to see it in 2021, and where’s the fun in that?

What others say

“Hav­ing had the great plea­sure to have shared a stage with my friends Alek­sey Igudes­man and Hyung-ki Joo, I can tell you that even from up-close they are the real thing.They are extremely funny, very orig­i­nal, and highly-skilled musi­cians to boot. Their mix of clas­si­cal music and com­edy is absolutely unique”.

 

John Malkovich
Actor

“Hear­ing and see­ing Igudes­man and Joo per­form­ing live is expe­ri­enc­ing pure musi­cian­ship, won­der­ful act­ing, sophis­ti­ca­tion and a ter­rific sense of humor. Their lack of pre­ten­tious­ness and the joy of their music-making offer an irre­sistible invi­ta­tion into the world of clas­si­cal music. I can’t wait to bring them back!”

Hanna Arie-Gaifman
Direc­tor 92nd Street Y, Tisch Cen­ter for the Arts, New York

“I had the time of my life when I first saw them live in action, and felt hon­ored to put in a cameo in some of their nutty skits! Take the oppor­tu­nity to get a taste of their over brim­ming musi­cal imag­i­na­tion!”

Emanuel Ax
Pianist

NEXT DATES FOR AND NOW BEETHOVEN

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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Die Rettung der Welt

Die Rettung der Welt
Die Rettung der Welt

Die Welt versinkt…

…nicht im bunten Chaos, nein, in grauen Räumen, grauer Langeweile, in grauer Monotonie. Doch Rettung naht: Igudesman & Joo zeigen uns, wie sie es geschafft haben, ihrem Leben die nötige Portion Chaos und Humor zu geben und es dadurch frisch und bunt zu erhalten. Folgen Sie ihnen auf ihrem Weg und lassen Sie sich anstecken von der Kreativität von Igudesman & Joo, aber auch von Mozart, Bach und anderen Kollegen. Denn nur durch Kunst als höchste Form der Kreativität kann die Welt – und somit auch Sie – gerettet werden.


Damit Sie auch nach der Show dem kreativen Flow folgen und mithelfen können, die Welt zu retten, gibt es etwas ganz Neues: gezielte Übungen, wie Sie Kreativität in den grauen Alltag bringen. Und weil man sich nicht alles merken kann, gibt es das Ganze auch als Buch.

 Zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen dieser Show fragen Sie Mozart, Bach und Beethoven.

What others say

“The incred­i­ble performance/workshop of Igudes­man and Joo… was the best vis­it­ing edu­ca­tional expe­ri­ence that I have wit­nessed in my 31 years of teach­ing in pub­lic edu­ca­tion.
Over 780 per­form­ing arts stu­dents… were exposed to musi­cian­ship, self-confidence build­ing, kines­thetic learn­ing, and dif­fer­ent cul­tural per­spec­tives that spoke to every­one in the audi­to­rium at dif­fer­ent and mem­o­rable lev­els.
… Thank you so much for let­ting us be a part of this won­der­ful event. You have touched many lives today, with your pas­sion for music and the arts.“

Andrew Kidd
Superintendent of Schools Volusia County Florida

“Hav­ing had the great plea­sure to have shared a stage with my friends Alek­sey Igudes­man and Hyung-ki Joo, I can tell you that even from up-close they are the real thing.They are extremely funny, very orig­i­nal, and highly-skilled musi­cians to boot. Their mix of clas­si­cal music and com­edy is absolutely unique”.

 

John Malkovich
Actor

Next Dates for Saving the World

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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Clash of the Soloists

Clash of the Soloists
Clash of the Soloists

Violin Virtuoso vs Piano Virtuoso

We live in a world where millions of people will walk passed a concert hall and only a fraction will step inside. Interestingly, thousands will gather at Wrestlemania. Igudesman & Joo have finally found common ground between these two, seemingly opposite, spectator sports. Clementi had to contend with Mozart’s ingenuity, Beethoven blew Steinbelt out of Vienna, and Handel sparred Scarlatti in a joust of fingers (ending in a draw where Handel took the honour for organ mastery—the instrument, not his liver—and Scarlatti reigned harpsichord supreme). Now, Igudesman & Joo prepare themselves to go head-to-head and put an end to the bull—for good. 

In the right corner we have Korean/Japanese/Chinese piano prodigy Whay-Tsu Fast and in the left, Russian/American/Jewish/German/Spanish-speaking violin virtuoso Sergey Amadeus Showoff—but, in the feud as ancient as time itself to determine the superior instrument, who will emerge triumphant? Who will snatch victory and prevail as champion in this Clash of the Soloists? Who, with flying fingers and soaring melodies, will rise above as the greatest soloist of all time and claim eternal glory? Ladies and gentleman, now on the world’s greatest stages, let’s get ready to rumble!

In this savage duel between violin and piano, anything and everything goes—whether bribery or axes in the piano and even an evil maestro in disguise. Igudesman & Joo battle it out in their iconoclastic, spectacular, Szechuan-spicy style. They blaze through concertos with extraordinary dexterity and finesse that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. A performance makes for an unforgettable, laugh-until-soda-comes-outof-your-nose performance that will leave listeners of all ages thirsting for more. Forget gladiators—this is blasphemy, this is madness, this is IGUDESMAN & JOO!

“Clash of the Soloists” was commissioned by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra to commemorate their 150th anniversary, and a world premiere performance by the orchestra with conductor, referee, and Maestro of Ceremonies, Joshua Weilerstein.

What others say

Since our first encounter with I&J in 2011, we (the musicians & staff of the Taiwan Philharmonic) had been longing for being part of the birth of the  “Scary Concert”.  From the perfect preparation of the music scores to the super efficient rehearsals, I&J not only inspired our musicians to be more creative in performances but also bounded them with our audience even tighter.  Right after the concerts, we received many inquires about when I&J will be back for another new project …. yes, from both orchestra musicians and audience.  The  Scary Concert is the healing concert for both audience and musicians in this stiflingly busy city life.

Joyce Chiou
Executive Director, Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)

“A Lit­tle Night­mare Music brings sur­re­al­ism to the con­cert hall and takes its trousers down! Very musi­cal, very engag­ing and very funny.
A Big Hand for A Lit­tle Night­mare Music’s Big Hands.“

Terry Jones
Comedian/Monty Python/Director

Next Dates for Clash of the Soloists

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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FYC

 

 

 

 

Make room in your CD collection between Haydn and Jay Z because the irrepressible Igudesman & Joo are releasing their first album, You Just Have to Laugh…featuring John Malkovich. For the CD, the masters of off-the-wall mash-ups — violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-ki Joo — have reimagined some of their now classic musical stews. The result is a joyride through two delightfully inventive minds, a place where every musical genre, pop culture reference and sheer wackiness feels completely at home.

On the debut CD, Malkovich is the voice of a maniacal agent, making increasingly preposterous demands that send Igudesman & Joo careening across musical time and space, from Brahms to blues, from cool jazz to country western.

“We wanted to do a CD that you could put on in your car, listen to intently or simply have fun having it on in the background,” Igudesman explains. As usual, the work of these classically trained, extraordinarily accomplished musicians defies easy categorization. What’s not hard to see is that the quirky CD is destined to become everyone’s aural fixation.

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Scary Concert

Scary Concert

Leaves Audiences Howling with Laughter

The age-old question, can a concert be simultaneously bone rattling and sidesplitting now has an answer. As if Igudesman & Joo weren’t outlandish and ghoulish enough, they’re upping the ante with “Scary Concert,” a no-holds barred musical salute to the dark side that manages to tingle your spine and tickle your fancy. Under the pair’s spell, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has no choice but to give in and play along in special Halloween-themed performances from Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh on October 31 and at the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theater at West Virginia University on November 2.

Violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-Ki Joo are the wildly inventive comedy team whose YouTube sketches and musical mash ups have attracted close to 40 million viewers. Seriously talented musicians with the wit, sensibilities and improvisational bent that bring to mind Monty Python, “South Park,” “SNL,” and “Portlandia,” Igudesman & Joo hilariously waltz their way from Mozart to martial arts, Haydn to hip hop. By breaking down barriers between the stage, audiences and orchestra, their concerts roam several standard deviations from the classical norm. Anything can and usually does happen to the delight of enthusiastic fans worldwide.

Following in the tradition of their “Big Nightmare Music,” these masters of mayhem and mirth again commandeer a full-size symphony orchestra, whose members will channel their inner pirates, wizards and zombies and don costumes to match. “Halloween is a wonderfully zany holiday because it combines things that are really scary and really fun,” Igudesman says. “It’s a time to let the folly out, perfect for us.”

The Halloween homage mines the musical canon for the chilling and creepy as well as featuring the duo’s original works. “Horror Movie,” for example, is the violinist’s own brilliant paean to the creaky and crackling, the squeaks and squeals, sounds that frighten the living daylights out of filmgoers, but are sure to have listeners screaming in laughter.

 

What others say

“What makes the slapstick duo so original is not that they turn classical music culture upside-down and inside out, but that they never mess with the music itself, treating that with not just respect, but with astonishing virtuosity.”

Dick O’Riordan
Sunday Business Post, Ireland

Since our first encounter with I&J in 2011, we (the musicians & staff of the Taiwan Philharmonic) had been longing for being part of the birth of the  “Scary Concert”.  From the perfect preparation of the music scores to the super efficient rehearsals, I&J not only inspired our musicians to be more creative in performances but also bounded them with our audience even tighter.  Right after the concerts, we received many inquires about when I&J will be back for another new project …. yes, from both orchestra musicians and audience.  The  Scary Concert is the healing concert for both audience and musicians in this stiflingly busy city life.

Joyce Chiou
Executive Director, Taiwan Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)

“Hear­ing and see­ing Igudes­man and Joo per­form­ing live is expe­ri­enc­ing pure musi­cian­ship, won­der­ful act­ing, sophis­ti­ca­tion and a ter­rific sense of humor. Their lack of pre­ten­tious­ness and the joy of their music-making offer an irre­sistible invi­ta­tion into the world of clas­si­cal music. I can’t wait to bring them back!”

Hanna Arie-Gaifman
Direc­tor 92nd Street Y, Tisch Cen­ter for the Arts, New York

Next Dates for Scary Concert

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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Play it Again

Play it Again
Play it Again

Bravo. Well Done.

Often the best parts of the concert are the encores. So why not start right away with them? In fact – what if every piece was an encore?

Play it Again, IGUDESMAN & JOO’s third duo show, (after A Little Nightmare Music and AND NOW MOZART), is a topsy‐turvy, upside‐down, insideout show, taking audience’s wishes for them to “play it again” and giving them far more than they wished for!
Although no two performances of IGUDESMAN & JOO’s are ever really the same, Play it Again explicitly promises that each night will be so wildly different from one another that audiences will have to come back again. Every piece on the night will be spontaneously decided before, and there will be occasions for fans to send in their requests for specific performances giving them the opportunity to actively engage in the direction the show will take on that particular night. Furthermore, having toured the world for over a decade, and doing their best to perform in the local language, Play it Again will be presented in IGUDESMAN & JOO’s new linguistic form, a sort of global, multi‐cultured Esperanto‐ish language which everyone will be able to understand all over the world: Joodesmanish!
Once IGUDESMAN & JOO Play It Again you will want to “Hear It Again”!



What others say

 “Their blend of classical music and comedy, laced with pop culture references and a wholly novel take on the word slapstick, is fueled by genuine, dazzling virtuosity.”

The New York Times
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

“Hear­ing and see­ing Igudes­man and Joo per­form­ing live is expe­ri­enc­ing pure musi­cian­ship, won­der­ful act­ing, sophis­ti­ca­tion and a ter­rific sense of humor. Their lack of pre­ten­tious­ness and the joy of their music-making offer an irre­sistible invi­ta­tion into the world of clas­si­cal music. I can’t wait to bring them back!”

Hanna Arie-Gaifman
Direc­tor 92nd Street Y, Tisch Cen­ter for the Arts, New York

Next Dates for Play it Again

No shows booked for this tour at the moment.

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