Clarinetist

Artistic Director

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.”

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A Song by Mahler

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Donald Runnicles makes his Festival debut conducting Mahler’s consummate fusion of song cycle and symphony, Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), performed here in its intimate chamber orchestra version. Mahler was reeling from the loss of his daughter and other crises when he wrote this deeply moving work, and the poems he set to music evoke the beauty, sadness, and transience of life. An all-star ensemble is joined by two extraordinary soloists who are also making their Festival debuts: German mezzo-soprano Annika Schlicht, whose voice OperaWire has praised as “extraordinary for its beauty of tone,” and American heldentenor Clay Hilley, who was lauded by The New York Times for his “vocal heft [and] clarion sound.” 

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

New Mexico Museum of Art

The dramatic dynamism of the duo form is spotlighted in the first half of this program, which features two vastly different works: Mozart’s perfectly crafted Duo in G Major, performed by violinist William Hagen and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and Kodály’s thrilling and demanding Duo for Violin and Cello, played by Leila Josefowicz and Paul Watkins. Mozart is featured again in the second half, as his exquisite Clarinet Quintet showcases the soaring artistry of clarinetist David Shifrin and the Escher String Quartet. 

Mozart Clarinet Quintet

On this powerful program, eight acclaimed wind players—including Minnesota Orchestra Principal Oboe Nathan Hughes and Cleveland Orchestra Principal Horn Nathaniel Silberschlag—come together to play Mozart’s earliest masterpiece for wind ensemble, the Serenade, K.375, and violinist William Hagen leads an all-star ensemble in Brahms’s Piano Quintet, which one of the composer’s contemporaries, conductor Hermann Levi, described as “beautiful beyond words.”

Mozart & Brahms Masterworks

The Miro Quartet returns to Tulsa for the first time since their triumphant Beethoven Winter Festival in 2017. For over twenty-five years the Quartet has performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from critics and audiences alike.

David Shifrin

Clarinetist, Artistic Director

Events

May 15, 2024

A Song by Mahler · Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

Aug 5, 2024

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde · Santa Fe Chamber Music festival

Aug 7, 2024

Mozart Clarinet Quintet · Santa Fe Chamber Music festival

Aug 12, 2024

Mozart & Brahms Masterworks · Santa Fe Chamber Music festival

Oct 20, 2024

Miró Quartet With David Shifrin · Tulsa Performing Arts Center

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