Performance History And Special Thanks

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop conceived the program, and the BSO then commissioned Seattle-based writer-director Didi Balle to write, stage direct and produce the show. It premiered to critical acclaim and standing ovations at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with Maestra Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a professional cast in February 2008. 

The world premiere was conceived of and scripted as a two-part program taking place over two consecutive evenings. The “cast” of the original show featured Maestra Alsop, the BSO, three real-life medical, musical and forensic experts, and one professional actor playing Beethoven. We would like to thank and acknowledged the stellar participation and contributions of:

  • The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Paul Meecham, President and CEO
  • Beethoven, played by Baltimore actor Tony Tsendeas
  • Dr. Charles Limb, Surgeon and Assistant Professor Dept. of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Johns Hopkins Hospital and member of the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music
  • Dr. Philip Mackowiac, Professor and Vice-Chairman of the Dept. of Medicine at the University of Maryland
  • William Meredith, Ph.D., Director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, and Professor, School of Music and Dance, San Jose State University
  • With special thanks to Jeremy Rothman, then VP of Artistic Planning at the BSO, now VP of Artistic Planning with the Philadelphia Symphony

After the tremendous success of the two-night BSO program, Alsop and Balle recreated and rewrote the program into a one-night turnkey symphonic stage show. The NEW one-night CSI: Beethoven© in two acts is scripted and ready to go for your conductor, and orchestra and a pre-rehearsed cast of three professional actors portraying Beethoven, a medical doctor/hearing specialist and a forensic scientist.  

The newly formatted program was inspired and informed by the real-life doctors and musical expert whose theories and diagnoses have been dramatized and expanded upon with the real-life doctors’ consent. Wherever appropriate in the new script/show, the real-life doctors are credited by name as the source of specific theories and diagnoses.

Dr. Charles Limb has generously offered his expertise as a medical script advisor and consultant for the new one-night program. We are also grateful to Dr. William Meredith’s continued participation as a leading Beethoven scholar providing us with up-to-date research concerning the latest findings concerning new testing results of Beethoven’s skull fragment and hair in 2010.

We appreciate their continued participation helping us make CSI: Beethoven© medically and forensically accurate so we may present you and your audiences with the most current clues as we solve the dual mysteries of Beethoven’s deafness and death.

Thanks also to Jeremy Rothman for his continued support and counsel.