‘Imagine that the universe is beginning to sound and resonate’, Gustav Mahler once said about his Eighth Symphony. This extraordinary work is often called the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, because Mahler’s vision called for such a huge ensemble: two mixed choirs, a boys’ choir, eight soloists, a massive orchestra, an organ, and an additional brass section. ‘Veni, creator, spiritus!’ It is with this Pentecost hymn invoking the Holy Spirit that the symphony’s first movement begins. For the second movement, Mahler draws upon the final scene of Goethe’s Faust II: ‘The noble part of the spirit has been saved from evil’. Angels and other celestial ‘flight attendants’ lift Faust’s soul—rescued from the clutches of the devil—up to the realm of the ‘Eternal Feminine’. Faust, an early pioneer of grand visions and soaring ideas, fits perfectly into the industrial architecture of Tempelhof. It is here that Mahler’s Eighth Symphony will truly ‘sound and resonate’ as never before, especially with Music Director James Gaffigan himself in the cockpit, guiding our flight through Mahler’s universe.
Program (pdf)
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, ‘Symphony of a Thousand’
In cooperation with:
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin
Cast & Team
Music direction: James Gaffigan
Choral direction: David Cavelius
Children’s choir direction: Dagmar Barbara Fiebach
Soprano I (Magna peccatrix): Christina Nilsson
Soprano II (Una poenitentium): Penny Sofroniadou
Soprano III (Mater gloriosa): Elisa Maayeshi
Alto I (Mulier samaritana): Karolina Gumos
Alto II (Maria aegyptiaca): Rachael Wilson
Tenor (Doctor marianus): Andrew Staples
Baritone (Pater ecstaticus): Hubert Zapiór
Bass (Pater profundus): Andreas Bauer Kanabas
Choir: Choral soloists of the Komische Oper Berlin, Vocalconsort Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin
Children’s choir: Children’s Choir of the Komische Oper Berlin
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Production Management: Rebecca Schettler
Production Support: René Dombrowski