Orchestra surprises conductor with a superb mash-up of ‘Happy Birthday’ and Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’

20 March 2018, 17:07 | Updated: 23 March 2018, 16:10

The great British conductor Sir Roger Norrington recently turned 84 years old, so his orchestra played him a ‘Happy Birthday’ mash-up of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ to celebrate. Awww.

Birthday serenades are timeless. Sure, they’re slightly embarrassing, but they’re also sweet and full of lovely harmonies (if, like us, your friends are music geeks).

But it turns out they’re even better when combined with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (nicknamed the 'Eroica') – as in this new arrangement by Georg ter Voert.

The SWR Symphonieorchester surprised Sir Roger with the mash-up on his 84th birthday, which he was celebrating in rehearsal with them (where else?!).

JUST LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS:

via GIPHY

Credit to Ben Palmer (conductor) and Hendrik Then Bergh for the video, and to the SWR Symphonie for the performance.