Did You Know . . . in Osaka you Can Hear Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Performed with 10,000 Voices? 

By Robert Markow | From the November/December 2025 issue of Strings

No, that’s not a misprint. It’s true—every December, while the western world rolls out an onslaught of Nutcracker and Messiah performances, Japan is awash in Beethoven’s Ninth. Somewhere between 250 and 300 performances can be heard throughout the land each December. In a tradition going back to 1983, the ultimate Ninth is given in Osaka Castle Hall, where a normal-sized orchestra is joined by 10,000 choristers, nearly all amateurs, each paying 700 euros for the privilege, most of them singing from memory, and with diction so clear you can understand the German. This has to be seen—and heard—to be believed. You can view it on YouTube.

Beethoven’s (and Friedrich Schiller’s) message of universal brotherhood was also invoked in Osaka earlier this year at the opening ceremony of Expo 2025. A mega-chorus of 10,000 was assembled, this time singing outdoors on the Expo grounds wearing colorful rain gear, just in case. This too can be viewed, with impressive camera work, on YouTube.