Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand
Season FinaleFri Jun 10 — Sun Jun 12, 2022
Orchestra Hall
It doesn’t get any bigger than this. Four choirs, eight soloists, and an orchestra of epic proportions come together for a season finale and one final celebration of departing Music Director Osmo Vänskä. Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, known as the Symphony of a Thousand, is one of the most ambitious choral symphonies that exists today. Join all of us for a grand conclusion to this historic season as we wish our music director farewell.
A Few Things to Know
- This performance is part of the Mahler Recording Project, our ongoing initiative to record all ten Mahler symphonies with Music Director Osmo Vänskä. With a week of recording following these concerts, the Orchestra will have nearly completed the ten-part project, with a future recording date in the works for the final installment, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3.
- These concerts will go into history as one of the largest-scale performances ever conducted by Osmo Vänskä at Orchestra Hall.
Program
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MAHLER
Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand
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In Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, a massive force of voices and orchestra are so interwoven, sharing equally in the sublime musical ideas, that the work is no mere symphony with singing, but a genuine marriage of vocal and instrumental sonorities. This mystical and stirring work, of which Mahler led the premiere performance only eight months before his death, brings together a medieval hymn (molded into an immense sonata structure) and the final scene of Goethe’s verse drama, Faust.
Artists
The Grammy Award-winning Minnesota Orchestra, now in its second century, ranks among America’s top symphonic ensembles, with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in its home state and around the world; award-winning recordings, broadcasts and educational engagement programs; and a commitment to intentionally build concert programs to feature more works by composers of color, exploring music both contemporary and historic. In September 2024, Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård began his second season as music director.
Minnesota Orchestra Conductor Laureate Osmo Vänskä, whose 19-year tenure as the Orchestra’s music director concluded in 2022, is renowned internationally for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires. His multi-year project with the Orchestra to perform and record all ten Mahler symphonies concluded in November 2022 with the Third Symphony. Signature initiatives of his music director tenure included a Sibelius symphonies cycle that earned the Orchestra its first Grammy Award and major tours to Cuba, Europe and South Africa. As a guest conductor, he has received extraordinary praise for his work with many of the world’s leading orchestras.
Jacquelyn Wagner is in high demand by such prestigious opera houses and festivals as the Paris Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Zurich Opera House, the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Salzburg Festival.
With her "lovely clean and focused sound" (The New York Times), "silvery tone", "a natural dignity and vocal command that" make her performances "highly impressive" (Opera News), the American soprano is enjoying resounding success in such different repertoire as Mozart, Handel, Verdi and Puccini, with a special focus on the German Fach and the iconic jugendlich-dramatische roles by Wagner, Strauss and Weber.
The 2021-22 season takes Wagner to the Volksoper in Vienna as 'Marschallin'/"Der Rosenkavalier", to the Easter Festival in Salzburg as /"Lohengrin" (Christian Thielemann), to Hamburg as 'Rosalinde'/"Die Fledermaus" and 'Leonore'/"Fidelio", to concerts at the Bruckner Festival in Linz, to Innsbruck for her role debut of 'Salome' in a new production (director: Angela Denoke) and to the Puccini Festival Torre del Lago as 'Magda'/”La Rondine”. Future projects include her return to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich, Theater an der Wien, etc.
Julian Orlishausen received his musical basic education at the Windsbacher Boy's Choir. He completed his singing studies with Prof. Endrik Wottrich at the Wuerzburg University of Music by numerous masterclasses with famous singers such as Cheryl Studer, Francisco Araiza, Grace Bumbry, Michael Volle and Edda Moser.
His successful debut at the opera Leipzig quickly resulted in numerous engagements at, among others, the Staatstheater Kassel, the Theater Chemnitz, the Vienna Volksoper and the Staatsoper Stuttgart, in roles like Marcello in "La Bohème" and Sharpless in "Madame Butterfly" by Puccini, Sid in "Albert Herring" by Britten, as Graf in "Der Wildschütz" by Lortzing as well as Don Giovanni in „Don Giovanni“ by Mozart and Wolfram in Wagner's „Tannhäuser“. He is also a regular guest of numerous festivals such as the International Gluck Opernfestival in Nuremberg and the Tyrolean Festival Erl.
With a voice of “warm, noble timbre and great flexibility” (Forum Opéra), German bass-baritone Christian Immler is a multifaceted artist whose career ranges widely across the worlds of lieder, oratorio and opera, “a technically, musically and stylistically consummate interpreter, with a strikingly masculine, truly grounded bass capable of tenoral splendour, exemplary diction and emotional urgency coupled with a deep intellectual textual understanding.” (Klassik Heute) His artistry is strongly centred in the baroque and early Classical repertoire, but with a versatility that extends through the 19th century recital and orchestral tradition and into contemporary works.
Recent highlights have included Rocco in Beethoven’s Leonore with René Jacobs and the Freiburger Barockorchester, widely acclaimed recordings of the St Matthew and St John Passions (as Jesus) with Bach Collegium Japan for BIS Records, the cantatas of Bach, Werner and Albrechtsberger at Müpa Budapest, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Bach’s Magnificat with Les Violons du Roy in Canada and Christmas Oratorio with the Orchester der Klangverwaltung, recital performances of Schubert’s Winterreise and Beethoven’s An die ferne geliebte, and the role of the Hermit in Der Freischütz at the Opéra de Rouen and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Laurence Equilbey. Upcoming highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bach Collegium Japan, Haydn’s Stabat Mater and Salve Regina with the Kammerorchester Basel, Mozart’s C minor Mass with Ensemble Pygmalion, Telemann’s Orpheus with the B’Rock Orchestra, the Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos in Limoges, and Don Fernando in Fidelio at the Opéra Comique in Paris.
The Minnesota Chorale has served as the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal chorus since 2004 and is now in its 29th season under the leadership of Kathy Saltzman Romey. Founded in 1972, the Chorale is Minnesota’s preeminent symphonic chorus, with a roster of over 200 singers. Best known for its work with the two major orchestras of the Twin Cities, the ensemble is equally dedicated to programs that build and enrich community. A seasoned artistic partner, the Chorale continues to explore new artistic directions and collaborative opportunities, while earning the highest critical acclaim for its work on the concert stage. In 2018, members of the Chorale traveled to South Africa to perform alongside the Minnesota Orchestra in its historic concerts in Soweto and Johannesburg.
The Minnesota Boychoir is the oldest continually operating boys choir in the Twin Cities. For over 60 years, the Boychoir’s reputation for excellence has brought invitations from local and national music conventions as well as sporting events, local theater productions and touring Broadway companies. The Boychoir has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra—including at the June 2022 season finale concerts of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony—Minnesota Opera, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Prague Philharmonic and a long list of local, regional and national performing artists, ensembles and theater companies.
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