(openPR) - The Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) honours its namesake on 7 July with an open air concert under the baton of Manfred Honeck. The MCO concert, which will feature internationally renowned singers Thomas Hampson, Anne Sofie von Otter and Marita Sølberg, is the high point of the celebration, and will be broadcast live on television and on the internet all over Europe.

The day-long birthday celebration will be filmed and broadcast by Nordisk Film in cooperation with the Gustav Mahler Society of the Czech Republic, Czech TV, NRK TV, ARTE-France, EuroArts, SVT and The Rest is Music. A wide variety of events will be put on in Kalište for Maher’s birthday: a reading about Mahler’s childhood, a lied recital with Thomas Hampson in the house where the composer was born and a choir concert in Kalište’s church.

The concert programme is dedicated exclusively to Mahler’s work on texted music, and shows the entire spectrum of his output in this genre. At the heart of the programme are individual songs from the great song cycles “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, the “Rückert-Lieder” and the “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen”, and framing these are excerpts from the 2nd Symphony, named the “Resurrection Symphony” after its final chorus. This programme shows the range of essential themes which Mahler addressed in his music: life and death, love, nature, eternity and finiteness, religion and creation. He took inspiration from literature, primarily German Romanticism, but also in ancient Chinese poetry. His settings of the most diverse texts were equally diverse and unique. Mahler’s understanding of the art of music was that of a totality: his immediate environment, his convictions and beliefs, his faith and his musical influences are all present in his work.

The MCO – and many other music-lovers all over the world – are using the Mahler Year of 2010 as a welcome opportunity to study the music of the Austrian composer in depth. The ensemble will perform Mahler’s works with Claudio Abbado, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, and others. The MCO will also feature Mahler’s works in 2011, as that year is another important year for the composer – the 100th anniversary of his death.

Programme, Ensemble, Broadcast Dates:

7 July 2010, 20:30, Open Air Concert, Kalište

Gustav Mahler: Totenfeier / Rheinlegendchen / Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld / Urlicht / Ich atmet’ einen Linden Duft / Revelge / Es sungen drei Engel / Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen / Trost im Unglück / Symphony No. 2, Finale

Conductor: Manfred Honeck / Soprano: Marita Sølberg / Mezzo-Soprano: Anne Sofie von Otter / Baritone: Thomas Hampson / Choir: The Prague Philharmonic Choir, Choir Boni Pueri, the Czech Boys Choir

Live Broadcast:
Czech TV, NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), ARTE (Web TV)
Wednesday, 7 July 2010, 20:30 – 21:55

Repeat Broadcast:
ARTE France and Germany
Sunday, 11 July, 19:00

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO), with its unusual structure, internationality and outstanding quality, is an ensemble unique to the present time. Its organisation and method of operation make it a model for the future of the European orchestral landscape. Composed of around 40 musicians from 20 different nations, and independent of external sponsorship, the MCO plays operas and concerts all over the world, in cities as well as at exclusive festivals from the North Pole to the Red Sea. The orchestra was founded in 1997 by the musicians themselves and Claudio Abbado, and the two have been reaching milestones of European musical life together ever since.

Merit Vareschi
Communications Manager
Mahler Chamber Orchestra e.V.
Hasenheide 54 / D-10967 Berlin
Phone + 49.30.41 71 79-21
Fax +49.30.41 71 79-29
Mobile +49.160.90 96 91 03
www.mahler-chamber.eu