A love song by Gustav Mahler is at the center of this probing new work by eminent pianist and composer Marc Neikrug. Liebst du um Schönheit (“If You Love for the Sake of Beauty”), from Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, is “a key element to the drama,” Neikrug says, and, as it “embodies the message of love as an aspiration, a self-embodied posture, and a state of being,” it speaks to the emotional core of the work as well. A Song by Mahler centers on the changing realities of two characters: a concertizing singer who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s and her husband, who is also her accompanist. This work of music theater is “an attempt to address the specific emotional evolution of this couple, touching on their love and their particular relationship to music” Neikrug says. “It is not an attempt at documenting the myriad aspects of the disease.”

EPSG:4326

A Song by Mahler

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

This thrilling program features music by Mozart; two world premieres, including a Festival-commissioned piano-and-winds quintet by Magnus Lindberg and an oboe quartet by Festival Artistic Director Marc Neikrug; and performances by Alan Gilbert, Berlin Philharmonic Principal Horn Stefan Dohr, members of the Escher String Quartet, and more.

Marc Neikrug

Events

Past events

May 15, 2024

A Song by Mahler · Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

Aug 9, 2023

Mozart, Lindberg & Neikrug · Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

About

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