Nashville Symphony Opens New Concert Season with Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony
Opening weekend performance also features soloists Malin Christensson and Kelley O’Connor
Nashville, Tenn. (August 9, 2022) – Nashville Symphony kicks off its 2022/23 Classical Series on Saturday, September 10, as Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, the Orchestra, and Nashville Symphony Chorus return to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center stage to perform Gustav Mahler’s epic and electrifying Symphony No. 2, also known as the “Resurrection” Symphony.
Channeling the power of a massive orchestra, full chorus, and vocal soloists, and culminating in a transcendent finale that shakes the rafters and soars to the heavens above, a live performance of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony is an experience unlike anything else in all of music. Over the course of this 90-minute work, audience members can witness a one-of-a-kind display of 220+ performers showcasing their full capabilities with earth-shattering force.
“By opening with one of the largest of the Mahler Symphonies, ‘The Resurrection,’ – which involves not only an incredibly large orchestra but also choir and soloists – I think it’s a perfect way to show that the Nashville Symphony is back to service this community,” said Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero. “And how appropriate that the title of the symphony is ‘The Resurrection,’ when we all want to come back to life and a sense of normalcy. We are appreciating things we may have taken for granted and looking to a brighter future. It’s going to be a great way to start the season.”
The performance also features guest soloists Malin Christensson, soprano, and Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano.
Soprano Malin Christensson grew up in Sweden and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Opera Academy. She has recently toured with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with Boston Symphony, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and more.
Possessing a voice of uncommon allure, the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling performers of her generation. She is internationally acclaimed equally in the pillars of the classical music canon – from Beethoven and Mahler to Brahms and Ravel – as she is in new works of modern masters – from Adams and Dessner to Lieberson and Talbot.
Great seats are available starting at $29 (while supplies last), and the Symphony’s Soundcheck program offers $10 tickets to students in K-12, college, and grad school.
About the Program
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2 in C minor (“Resurrection”)
Composed: 1888-94
Premiered: December 13, 1895
- Mahler took a good six years to wrestle his epic Second Symphony into being. Here, he struggles with the meaning of existence itself, posing the questions: “What next? What is life and what is death? Why did you live? Why did you suffer? Is it all nothing but a huge, frightful joke?” The first movement, a vast funeral march, began as a stand-alone symphonic poem that Mahler decided to use as the first movement.
- It makes a powerful statement that has its counterpart in the even larger final movement, for which Mahler followed the model of Beethoven’s Ninth and introduced a chorus to help respond to the unanswered questions posed at the start. The text Mahler chose to set here comes from a German religious poem of the 18th century titled Resurrection.
- The Second Symphony dramatically oversteps conventions by transforming the symphonic format into a spiritual autobiography that encompasses apocalyptic drama. Mahler also expands the resources of his orchestra—not for sheer “effect” but to deploy an immense expressive range of timbres and colors that contribute to the Second’s widely ranging soundscape.
Full program notes and artist bios can be found at NashvilleSymphony.org/Mahler2
Tickets for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony may be purchased:
– Online at NashvilleSymphony.org/Mahler2
– Via phone at 615-687-6400
The GRAMMY® Award-winning Nashville Symphony has earned an international reputation for its innovative programming and its commitment to performing, recording, and commissioning works by America’s leading composers. With more than 140 performances annually, the orchestra offers a broad range of classical, pops and jazz, and children’s concerts, along with an extensive selection of education and community engagement programs. The Nashville Symphony has released 40 internationally distributed recordings on Naxos, which have received 27 GRAMMY® nominations and 14 GRAMMY® Awards, making it one of the most active recording orchestras in the country. The orchestra has also released recordings on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and New West Records.
In addition to support from Metro Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville Symphony is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Nashville Symphony is also supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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