35,000 at The World Games Concert in Kaohsiung’s new Main Stadium
On May 20th, the Main Stadium of The World Games 2009 had an inauguration concert with more than 35,000 spectators, which was an unprecedented experience for the local people and the city.
An international array of singers of the Vienna State Opera Chorus together with the local choirs, performing the "Ode to Joy" to celebrate the opening of The World Games stadium, provided a dramatic conclusion for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Asian tour on a hot Wednesday night in Kaohsiung.
Music director Manfred Honeck's concert consisted of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Ludwig van Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and the final of his Ninth Symphony, which sets Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy" that extols the brotherhood of mankind.
