Ode to Joy , BBC Proms 2009 - Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

On Tuesday 18th August 2009, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain played to a sold-out Royal Albert Hall in London, with over 6000 audience members, and well over 1000 of them bringing ukuleles to join in with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".

If you want to join in at home, the sheet music can be downloaded via the links below.

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Book your tickets to see the Ukulele Orchestra live!

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- LINKS -

[brunoboaz]

And every ukelele player that attended that performance left with the feeling of what it is truly like to belong to a tribe. That is the most beautiful part of it all.

[SimplyJ]

First time I've seen a concert where audience encouraged to bring their own instruments. I had no idea this orchestra existed! Glad to discover them!

[monicautano_lesson]

Tears came down to see how people love to connect get together. Hoping we can sing and play the ode to Joy deep from our heart. Thank you for many beautiful entertainments.

[georgedowd]

...and I thought “Heroes” was my favorite video. THIS is absolutely (ridiculously) the greatest live performance like NO other.
Just think of all those people, for the rest of their lives they will never forget this moment, and can truthfully tell everyone they know “I played The Royal Albert Hall!!”

[ragamuffinukes]

Ukulele players are the absolutely BEST happy cheerful peeps in the whole world! When I first saw these folks (especially since they were British, with a profound sense of humor), I fell in love with ukulele even before I had learned anything... NOW i'm a seasoned player and I love jamming with them...

[judithmaryhill]

LOVE the way the audience shared in the performance. Videos like this can only promote UKULELE sales around the world 😍😍😍😍😍

[weedle]

*sob* oh the deep joy of seeing all those people - before Covid 🥺😰- in the Royal Albert Hall - being “as one”, playing along with their ukeleles and having so much fun and the joining in of the “sing song” at then end... *large lump in throat* - .... let us hope and pray for the day when we can all get together again in mass celebrations at concerts and theatres and celebrate the joy of music and performers ... and hope it’s soon...

[noranori]

This video always makes me get emotional... In times like this, with so much hate, antisemitism, racism and Corona, hard hearted people without an empathy let refugees down at European borders,
watching the power of music, bringing people together in love and joy - thank you all for making the World a better place...All people should be brothers and sisters, hopefully never forget this important message.... 💖✊💖

[cogidubnus]

Wonderful example of how good people, good will and good music can help bring the world together

[davidyoung]

I had the priviledge of seeing the U.O.G.B. in Liverpool, Nova Scotia at their inaugural Ukulele Ceiligh in 2006, and when they were introduced and the gentleman held up his guitar and stated 'This IS a ukulele!', I called back...'It's on steroids!' which got a big round of laughter from the audience.  At a reception after the show, I rather sheepishly went to the gentleman with the guitar and apologized for up-staging him, but he turned out to be grateful for my comment.  He said it was a great ad-lib, and that he'd keep it in the show.  I always wondered if he did keep it in.  What a talented group of musicians they are!

[helfgott]

Its a cold winter lots of snow and....i feel happy listening to u
Stay healthy
Greets from bavaria
We together will make it

[osilva]

The Ode to Joy!
What a joyfilled time.
Looking forward to the time we can enjoy these monents in person, together and joyful💜

[SH]

OUTSTANDING !
I wish I was there, screaming "I am an ukulele Player!" through the Royal Albert Hall and play my Instrument somewhere in this crowd.
Still Youtube gives me GOOSEBUMPS!

[normangale]

Oh what a joy it would have been to be there, just for that. It is so incredible that some many people have come to love the Ukulele.

[fionamessenger]

I loved how some of the promenaders started singing the words - true classical nerds. It made for an incredible atmosphere - wow what it must have been like to be there. I was quite moved - the uke can be beautiful.

[PC-kddj]

I have loved this song since I first heard it a quarter century ago. I have enjoyed the UOGB since I first heard them a decade ago. This ensemble of performers is the one I first heard. It is great to see Kitty Lux in this performance.

This was such a novel performance in that the audience didn’t just clap, or hum, or sing along to the music as are often done, but they played along with their own instruments!

It was a moving experience to see and hear on YouTube; I can only imagine what it must have been like to experience it live!

It inspired me to put together this timeline:
1785 —German poet Friedrich Schiller wrote this ode.
1824 —German composer Beethoven set the ode to music as the final movement of his Ninth Symphony; since then it has been performed around the world (a few notable performances are listed below).
1972— Beethoven’s music was adopted as the "Anthem of Europe”.
1980s —Demonstrators in Chile sang the piece during demonstrations against the Pinochet dictatorship.
1985 —The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain is founded.
1989 —Chinese students broadcast the tune at the Tiananmen Square protest. Also that year it was performed on Christmas Day after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
2009 — the UOGB (and ~1, 000 accompanists) perform this song in concert at Royal Albert Hall.
2011 in December after the tsunami and annually thereafter — it is performed in concert in Japan.
2012 —the first flashmob performance of this song was held in Sabadell, Spain (available on YouTube).
2017 — it was played at French President Emmanuel Macon’s victory address.
2020 — the UOGB has continued performing in lockdown during the pandemic bringing music and humor and joy to its audiences!

Thank you Schiller, Beethoven, and UOGB!

[paigegarrison]

Talk about a truly Ode to Joy! I can feel the love, even today! Thank you, y’all! ❤️🎶

[Blumenkatze]

How wonderful seeing all this people playing peacefully together! I wish we would have such great events in Germany.

[sammo]

Oh, what joy! Never seen/heard sooo many ukuleles (instruments) in 1 sitting.

[oldcrow]

I needed to see this. Thank you. It gave me chills. The world needs more joy right now.