Name: The Seventh Cross
Start: 2026-05-22T00:00:00
Location: Staatstheater Mainz

Marleen Johow

Alina Fluck

Staatstheater Mainz

Representatives of Italian church music will gather in Mainz Cathedral for the 9th Symphony Concert. Giovanni Gabrieli, born in 1554, was a Venetian church musician at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice and one of the most important musicians of the Venetian School at the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque. His avant-garde work attracted musicians from all over Europe to Venice. His most famous student was the German Heinrich Schütz. He made early use of the basso continuo in his works, and his Sonata pian' e forte contains some of the earliest dynamic markings, i.e. markings for the specific use of volume in music. The works of the German Baroque, which culminated in the music of J.S. Bach, are based on this tradition, the roots of which lie in this very Venetian school under Giovanni Gabrieli.

9th Symphony Concert

Mainz Cathedral

What would your last day on earth look like? Perhaps you've already thought about what you would say and do if you knew him beforehand. Would you spend it alone or with the people you love? Would there perhaps be room for a new friendship?

Pretty last friends

Commandant Fahrenberg has seven trees in the Westhofen concentration camp fitted with crossbeams: each of these seven crosses is intended for one of the men who managed to escape from the camp that morning. After seven days, six men have been captured or died – only the seventh cross remains free.

The Seventh Cross

In Sugar Rush, dance transforms the physical exertion of labor into the indulgent fruits of pleasure. Inspired by the traditional act of pounding grapes—a truly Rhenish-Hessian motif—the choreography explores the interplay of collective labor and individual gratification.

Sugar Rush (UA)

How Life Sounds Takes the audience on a musical journey. From the haunting lines in “Hold on to your love” to the indestructible joy of life in “I love life” to the hope that resonates in “The sun always rises” – the evening builds bridges between pop music, chanson and timeless poetry. Lovingly arranged, all the songs are performed in appropriate instrumentations. From piano accompaniment to a large band with drums and double bass, supported by the cello, for example.

What life sounds like (AT)(UA)

What is good orchestral playing other than great chamber music? We are proud that the Philharmonic State Orchestra's chamber music series has been a fixture in our concert calendar for years, managed and brought to life each year anew by the passion of our musicians. Today, it is an integral and indispensable part of Mainz's musical life! With great attention to programming and musical detail , a wide variety of ensembles come together to perform for you.

Sunday matinee in June

Wine, women, and good food—life could be so simple. At least, if it were up to Sir John Falstaff, who is always on the lookout for new pleasures. But when the coffers are empty, the hunter becomes careless: Falstaff sends wooing letters to two married women, but makes the tactical error of making the letters identical except for the salutation. He doesn't expect the two women he's courting, Alice Ford and Meg Page, to be friends, which includes a conversation about the unexpected mail. As soon as the women discover the transparent scam, they start plotting to stop the supposed suitor. Especially since they can also use the opportunity to save Alice's daughter Nannetta from being married, at her father's request, to a man Nannetta can't stand. The only thing to watch out for is the jealous stalking of Ford's husband.

Falstaff

A young man trembles feverishly in his sleep amid the ruins of a dilapidated, isolated stable on the outskirts of a small town in Limerick. When he awakens, he sees the ghost of a woman comforting him with an old German melody...