Set your preferred locations for a better search. You can sign up here.

Mahler Festival: Jaap van Zweden & Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Mahler's Symphony No. 7

Date & Time
Thu, May 15, 2025, 20:15
Conductor Jaap van Zweden has a long and close relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During the Mahler Festival, they will perform the Sixth (yesterday) and Seventh Symphony (today). The latter is 'the most difficult Mahler for both the orchestra, the conductor and the audience,' Van Zweden told de Volkskrant. 'The whole symphony sits between dream and reality.''Predominantly joyful in character', Mahler himself described his Seventh Symphony. This is contrasted by an opposite nickname of the piece: 'Lied der Nacht'.... Read full text

Keywords: Symphony Concert

Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Musicians

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Jaap van ZwedenConductor

Program

Symphony No. 7Gustav Mahler
Give feedback
Last update: Fri, Nov 22, 2024, 12:40

Similar events

These events are similar in terms of concept, place, musicians or the program.

Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Jaap van Zweden & Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Mahler's Symphony No. 6

Wed, May 14, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden (Conductor)
Conductor Jaap van Zweden has a long and close relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Not long ago, they performed Mahler's Sixth Symphony together. Powerful, overwhelming and majestic, several US newspapers wrote about it. In this symphony, the 'Tragic', Mahler, among other things, takes a walk to the summits of the mountains. Where it gets quieter and quieter, until you only hear the cowbells, somewhere far below.In his Sixth Symphony, Mahler unpacks to the max when it comes to timbres. He prescribed 'lots' of harps, all kinds of percussion and - if possible - multiple celestas. The giant Chicago Symphony Orchestra takes a tour full of highs and lows. Blissful vistas and utter despair alternate. In the first movement, Mahler incorporated a theme that was supposed to depict his wife Alma. 'I don't know if I have succeeded, but you will have to make do with it.' Alma was deeply touched: 'None of his works came as directly from the bottom of his heart as this symphony.'
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden

Sat, May 17, 2025, 20:00
Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden (Conductor)
World-class finale: under the theme of »Zukunft« (Future), the Hamburg International Music Festival brings together the global players of classical music to conclude the season with exciting programmes. Included here is one of the most long-standing and prestigious orchestras in the USA: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Led by star conductor Jaap van Zweden, they fill the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall with the visionary music of Gustav Mahler. Only a few composers have bestowed as many futuristic aspects to orchestral music as Mahler. A sought-after conductor with an international career himself, when composing, he intimately knew about the limits of the orchestra and could exhaust and repeatedly push them. In his magnificent and sombre Symphony No. 6, the most obvious sign of Mahler’s gift for innovation is a novel percussion effect: the famous hammer blow, which conjures up the apocalypse in the tragic final movement and thereby became the symbol of this entire work. This is, however, somewhat curtailed because the rest of the symphony is no less emotional, stirring and brilliant. A huge work of fiction in notes, captivating from the first to the last second!
Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)
Artistic depiction of the event

Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden

Sun, May 18, 2025, 20:00
Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden (Conductor)
It has been an incredible 40 years since the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last performed in a ProArte concert. It is therefore high time to present America’s finest orchestra, one of the most traditional orchestras in the USA, to the ProArte audience at the Elbphilharmonie. As proven Mahler specialists, the musicians from Chicago make a substantial contribution to our season focus: according to Jaap van Zweden, Mahler’s 7th Symphony lies »exactly on the border between dream and reality« and is therefore one of the most demanding works – for conductor and orchestra alike. The path leads through night to light of the jubilant finale of the symphony, which the busy court opera director Mahler once again put to paper in his summer retreat on Lake Wörthersee. »At the first stroke of the oar, the theme [...] of the introduction to the first movement came to mind.«
Info & Ticket (www.elbphilharmonie.de)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer - Mahler's Symphony No. 2

Sat, May 10, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Boedapest Festival Orkest, Groot Omroepkoor, Iván Fischer (Conductor), Christiane Karg (Soprano), Anna Lucia Richter (Mezzo-Soprano)
'Mahler's beauty always hurts', conductor Iván Fischer said recently. Tonight he conducts his own Budapest Festival Orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 2, full of passion, lyricism and brightly shining melodies. Mahler is in good hands with Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Fischer knows like no other how to get Mahler's music flowing, there is no composer he understands better. As early as 2006, Fischer and the orchestra recorded Mahler's Symphony No. 2. 'Impressive', wrote Gramophone.He who calls us gives us eternal life - sings the choir towards the end of Mahler's Symphony No. 2. In this emotionally charged work, Mahler expresses his ideas about life after death. Bliss and melancholy are both given space. Pure, insinuatingly and moving.
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer - Mahler's Symphony No. 2

Sun, May 11, 2025, 11:00
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Boedapest Festival Orkest, Groot Omroepkoor, Iván Fischer (Conductor), Christiane Karg (Soprano), Anna Lucia Richter (Mezzo-Soprano)
'Mahler's beauty always hurts', conductor Iván Fischer said recently. Tonight he conducts his own Budapest Festival Orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 2, full of passion, lyricism and brightly shining melodies. Mahler is in good hands with Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Fischer knows like no other how to get Mahler's music flowing, there is no composer he understands better. As early as 2006, Fischer and the orchestra recorded Mahler's Symphony No. 2. 'Impressive', wrote Gramophone.He who calls us gives us eternal life - sings the choir towards the end of Mahler's Symphony No. 2. In this emotionally charged work, Mahler expresses his ideas about life after death. Bliss and melancholy are both given space. Pure, insinuatingly and moving.
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer - Mahler's Symphony No. 5

Tue, May 13, 2025, 17:00
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Boedapest Festival Orkest, Iván Fischer (Conductor)
'The beauty of Mahler always hurts,' conductor Iván Fischer once said. At the Mahler Festival, he conducts both the Second Symphony and, today, the Fifth. A powerful work from a heyday in Mahler's life. Turbulent, full of life and passion. Mahler, having just met his great love Alma, seems to express his feelings in the beloved Adagietto.'Each part has its friends and its enemies', Mahler wrote of his Fifth Symphony. He was thrilled that this work raised such extremes of emotions. After three partly vocal symphonies, the Fifth is a purely instrumental. But therefore no less intense: sometimes jubilant, sometimes gloomy, always fiery. 'The work has come to represent the total of all the suffering that life brought to me.'
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer - Mahler's Symphony No. 5

Tue, May 13, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Boedapest Festival Orkest, Iván Fischer (Conductor), Anna Lucia Richter (Mezzo-Soprano)
'The beauty of Mahler always hurts,' conductor Iván Fischer once said. At the Mahler Festival, he conducts both the Second Symphony and, today, the Fifth. A powerful work from a heyday in Mahler's life. Turbulent, full of life and passion. Mahler, having just met his great love Alma, seems to express his feelings in the beloved Adagietto.'Each part has its friends and its enemies', Mahler wrote of his Fifth Symphony. He was thrilled that this work raised such extremes of emotions. After three partly vocal symphonies, the Fifth is a purely instrumental. But therefore no less intense: sometimes jubilant, sometimes gloomy, always fiery. 'The work has come to represent the total of all the suffering that life brought to me.'
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Fabio Luisi and NHK Symphony Orchestra - Mahler's Symphony No. 3

Sun, May 11, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, Dames van het Groot Omroepkoor, Nationaal Kinderkoor, Fabio Luisi (Conductor), Olesya Petrova (Mezzo-Soprano)
Born in Italy, Fabio Luisi is currently chief conductor on two continents. In Texas, he is the successor to Jaap van Zweden at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. And in Tokyo, he leads the NHK Symphony Orchestra, which today performs Mahler's Third Symphony, one of Mahler's signature orchestral works with a major role for voice. The NHK Symphony Orchestra is joined by both the women of the National Radio Choir and the National Children's Choir.Initially, Mahler gave his Third Symphony a programme: a summer morning dream. In the six movements, he featured animals, flowers and angels. He later removed all these titles, but the Third remains a declaration of love to nature and the universe. Including Bavarian folk music and sleigh bells, and children stepping into the roles of angels.
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Fabio Luisi and NHK Symphony Orchestra - Mahler's Symphony No. 4

Mon, May 12, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, Fabio Luisi (Conductor), Ying Fang (Soprano), Matthias Goerne (Bariton)
Born in Italy, Fabio Luisi is currently chief conductor on two continents. In Texas, he succeeded Jaap van Zweden at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. And in Tokyo, he leads the NHK Symphony Orchestra, with which he will give two concerts during the Mahler Festival. Yesterday the Third Symphony was performed, today it is the Fourth Symphony's turn. Luisi's interpretation was called 'enchanting' by Dallas Morning News. In the fourth movement, soprano Ying Fang sings of the idyll of the afterlife.While walking through Austria, writing book in hand, Mahler got his Fourth Symphony in his mind. Consequently, it sounds remarkably scenic, light and lyrical. The Fourth Symphony initially met with resistance and incomprehension, and was slammed by the press. Later, however, the work grew to become perhaps Mahler's best-loved symphony. In this respect, Bruno Walter, Mahler's colleague and friend, was proved right when, after the first performance in Vienna, he lashed out at the boomer press that 'Mahler and his immortal work will be alive long after you are dead and buried'.
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)
Artistic depiction of the event

Mahler Festival: Concertgebouw Orchestra and Klaus Mäkelä - Mahler's Symphony No. 1

Fri, May 9, 2025, 20:15
Het Concertgebouw, Main Hall (Amsterdam)
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä (Conductor)
In 1903, Gustav Mahler conducted his own work with the Concertgebouw Orchestra for the first time. He was lyrical about orchestra, choirs and audience. 'The music culture in this country is astonishing! The way these people can listen.' Tonight, in the First Symphony, the ensemble is led by Klaus Mäkelä. He has been artistic partner of the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2022 and will become chief conductor in 2027. In an interview, he said Mahler's work is probably the best first symphony ever. 'Fascinating how he manages to bring together sounds of nature, dances and childhood memories.'Stormy, lyrical and inventive: Mahler's First Symphony is one that hints forward to all that follows. Mahler arranged his First symphony several times. Central is a theme from one of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Spring dreams, peasant dances, a real storm, hunting scenes... they culminate in a triumphant finale. Swedish composer Anders Hillborg is writing a new work, the Dutch premiere of which you will hear today.
Info & Ticket (www.concertgebouw.nl)