Events

This first Recital Hall concert of the Mahler Festival focuses on Mahler’s most beautiful songs. Today’s most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks vocalists he admires. Scottish mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison is praised for her refined yet full voice. ‘A real star,’ according to the Times. You will also hear baritone James Newby, winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award. He recently released the acclaimed album Fallen to Dust.

Julius Drake chose a series of songs full of drama and poetry for Morison and Newby. That poetry sometimes comes from Mahler himself, as today in Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. ‘When my dearest marries’ is the name of one of the songs. The lady in question did not marry Mahler, who experienced this as a ‘glowing knife’ in his heart. He processed all his frustration and sorrow in this stirring song cycle. In the five lyrical Rückert-Lieder, he shows a happier side.

During the Mahler Festival, the Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler’s most beautiful songs. Perhaps today’s most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks vocalists he admires. Today, these are mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor and bass-baritone Jusung Gabriel Park.

In Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Mahler chose his favourite texts from the very old German collection of the same name. He composed twelve sometimes fairy-tale-like songs. Love, faith, heroic deeds… everything floats by. They are sung by mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor and South Korean Jusung Gabriel Park. The latter is making his Amsterdam debut. Drake chooses to have some songs sung by the soloists together. ‘Even though they are not necessarily written as such, there are often clearly two characters speaking,’ he said in Preludium. ‘And as a duet they work really beautifully.’

The Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler’s most beautiful songs during the Mahler Festival. Perhaps the most important song accompanist of the moment, pianist Julius Drake, flanks his favourite vocalists. Today, these are Feride Büyükdenktaş and Stuart Jackson. Together they sing the moving Das Lied von der Erde, in Mahler’s own version for two vocalists and piano.

Six narrative movements make up Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. He based the songs on texts about nature, death and life. He used ancient Chinese texts in German translation. A ‘drinking song on the earthly vale of tears’ is the start of a stirring series of reflections on farewell and new beginnings. Das Lied von der Erde was written for two voices. Today you will hear Feride Büyükdenktaş, a Turkish mezzo-soprano who has already shone on the major opera stages of Vienna, Stuttgard and Istanbul. British tenor Stuart Jackson gets jubilant reviews at home, and is now more and more often singing across the globe.

The Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler’s most beautiful songs during the Mahler Festival. Perhaps today’s most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks his favourite vocalists. Today, you hear British mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, praised by critics for her charisma and clarity. You will also hear young tenor Laurence Kilsby, the 2022 winner of the Wigmore Hall’s International Song Competition.

Mahler’s moving Kindertotenlieder are set to texts by Friedrich Rückert. This song cycle deals with coping with the death of two of the poet’s children. Some years after its completion, Mahler himself lost his daughter. Julius Drake had already regularly performed the Kindertotenlieder with Fleur Barron. ‘Fleur has such an extraordinary voice,’ he said in Preludium.’ A mezzo, but when she sings, you can hear a contra-alt, very special.’ Drake also chose several pieces from Des Knaben Wunderhorn for this recital. For these works, Mahler based himself on old German folk song texts. Mahler drew from the same textbook before. Today, Barron and tenor Laurence Kilsby perform the Lieder und Gesänge, a song cycle Mahler wrote in his twenties.

For four days, the Recital Hall is dedicated to Mahler’s most beautiful songs. A special recital is dedicated to his wife Alma, combining pieces by her with those by friends. Perhaps today’s most important Lieder accompanist, pianist Julius Drake, flanks his favourite vocalists during all these concerts. Today you will hear French soprano Axelle Fanyo, a ‘true storyteller’ according to Forum Opéra. She shares the stage with one of the greatest Dutch talents, baritone Raoul Steffani.

Austrian Alma Maria Schindler was introduced to her future husband, Gustav Mahler, by her composition teacher Zemlinsky. Under Mahler’s name, she would become known – but never primarily as a composer. Mahler did not want his wife to write any more music, and Alma herself also had doubts about her work. Although most of it has been lost, her late-romantic, often melancholic songs are still widely performed. Here today in the Recital Hall, they alternate with pieces by friends and acquaintances. Axelle Fanyo and Raoul Steffani perform songs by Ernst Krenek, Mahler’s son-in-law. You will also hear works by Berg, Korngold and Stravinsky.