Run, Listen, Celebrate: Beat Beethoven 5K Launches Symphony Tacoma’s 80th Season

Symphony Tacoma’s beloved community event returns September 26, inviting runners, walkers, families, and music lovers to celebrate 80 years of music-making with a race against one of classical music’s most recognizable works. 

For 80 seasons, Symphony Tacoma has been part of the cultural life of the South Sound, bringing people together through live orchestral music. Now, as the orchestra celebrates its 80th season, it is looking both backward and forward: honoring the people and performances that shaped its history while finding new ways to make classical music more accessible to the community. 

That celebration starts somewhere you might not expect: at the starting line of a 5K. 

On Saturday, September 26, the 2nd Annual Beat Beethoven 5K returns to Wright Park in Tacoma. The challenge is simple: can you finish the course before Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony finishes playing? 

It’s a playful premise, but the event also reflects something bigger about Symphony Tacoma and the season ahead. Whether you’re a longtime concertgoer, an occasional listener, or someone whose closest encounter with Beethoven is those unmistakable opening four notes, there’s a place for you. 

As a community partner and media sponsor, Classical KING is proud to support an event that shares our belief that classical music should feel welcoming, relevant, and connected to the communities we serve. 

Celebrating 80 Years and Looking Ahead 

Symphony Tacoma’s 2026–2027 season arrives at an important moment for the orchestra. 

Along with celebrating its 80th anniversary, Symphony Tacoma is preparing for an artistic transition. Following Music Director Sarah Ioannides’ final concert on May 9, audiences will hear from a full season of guest conductors, each bringing a different perspective to the podium. Behind the scenes, the orchestra will begin evaluating candidates for its next music director. 

That makes the anniversary season more than a look back. Audiences will have a chance to experience the orchestra as it considers what its next chapter might sound like. 

The season itself offers plenty to discover, including the return of the pops-style Symphony on Screen, featuring music from beloved films; a February performance marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death; and Seasons of Motion in March. 

Bringing the Symphony Beyond the Concert Hall 

Some of Symphony Tacoma’s most meaningful work this season will happen outside the traditional concert experience. 

Through a new program, Symphony Without Walls, musicians perform in community spaces throughout the region, giving people opportunities to encounter live orchestral music in places that may already feel familiar to them. 

The orchestra is also launching a community ticket initiative that will provide 80 to 100 complimentary tickets at every concert. The program is designed to connect first responders, military families, social service organizations, and other community groups with live performances. Tacoma Community House is among the first organizations participating. 

Accessibility is another growing area of focus. Symphony Tacoma is working to expand ASL-supported programming and sensory-friendly concert experiences, along with school outreach for students who are Deaf or hard of hearing. That outreach explores ways students can experience music through vibration, movement, and touch. 

These efforts are part of a larger goal: removing some of the barriers that can make orchestral music feel distant or inaccessible and creating more ways for people to experience it on their own terms. 

Even one of Symphony Tacoma’s most popular pre-concert traditions is expanding. Mini Maestros, an instrument petting zoo, which gives visitors the chance to see and try orchestral instruments up close, will now welcome adults as well as children. 

Rather than treating community engagement as a series of one-time events, Symphony Tacoma is working to build lasting relationships with schools, service organizations, military families, first responders, and cultural groups throughout the region. 

Why Beat Beethoven? 

What started out as a local tradition in Fairbanks Alaska, Beat Beethoven has expanded to our neighborhood parks. If all of those plans for Symphony Tacoma’s 80th Season sound ambitious, Beat Beethoven offers a wonderfully simple introduction to it. 

Put on your running shoes. Head to Wright Park. Listen for those famous opening notes. And start moving.

Last year, more than 160 people took part, traveling from Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Puyallup, Olympia, Seattle, Bellevue, Bremerton, Everett, and beyond. This year, organizers hope to welcome 200 participants. 

Of course, you don’t have to be a serious runner—or a Beethoven expert—to join in. The event is open to runners and walkers of all ages and abilities. 

That may be part of what makes the idea work so well. Beethoven’s Fifth leaves the concert hall and becomes the soundtrack to an afternoon in the park. People who might never sit next to one another at a symphony concert can find themselves sharing the same course, listening to the same music, and trying to beat the same final note. 

A Word from Symphony Tacoma 

Max Thayer, Symphony Tacoma Board Vice President, puts it this way: 

“Classical is always a seated experience. With BB5K, we unlock a new joy by running against the beat. BB5K connects new communities—fitness, racers, classical lovers—and gives us all a shared beat and experience.” 

Ready to Beat Beethoven? 

Maybe you’re chasing a personal best. Maybe you’d rather walk the course with friends or family. Or maybe the idea of racing one of the most famous symphonies ever written is simply too unusual to pass up. 

Whatever brings you to the starting line, Beat Beethoven offers a fun way to support the arts and help open Symphony Tacoma’s 80th season. 

Beat Beethoven 5K 
Saturday, September 26
Wright Park, Tacoma 

Participants can: 

• Challenge themselves to finish the 5K before Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony ends. 

• Support Symphony Tacoma’s education, accessibility, and community programs. 

• Help kick off Symphony Tacoma’s 80th season. 

• Enjoy a day of music, movement, and community in Wright Park. 

Register: https://runsignup.com/Race/WA/Tacoma/BeatBeethoven5krun 

Can’t make the race? You can still take part in Symphony Tacoma’s anniversary year by attending a concert, supporting its community programs, or exploring the 2026–2027 season at symphonytacoma.org. 

Join the Celebration 

Eight decades is a milestone worth celebrating, but Symphony Tacoma’s 80th season isn’t only about where the orchestra has been. It’s also about who gets to be part of what comes next. 

That could mean experiencing a symphony for the first time, discovering an instrument with your child, attending a sensory-friendly performance, receiving a community ticket, or simply spending a September morning running through Wright Park while Beethoven plays. 

There are plenty of ways in. 

Beat Beethoven is just the starting line.