Arizona Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Cockrell, conductor
A Mahler Requiem – music of mourning, solace and renewal
Movements from Symphony No. 5
Selections from Kindertotenlieder and other songs with texts of Friedrich Rückert
Kristin Dauphinais, mezzo-soprano
November 20, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Crowder Hall, $10
Box Office 520-621-3341
Livestream: music.arizona.edu/live
THE ARIZONA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF THE UA FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC TO OFFER A MAHLER REQUIEM COMMEMORATING THE TRAGEDY, LOSS AND RENEWED HOPE OF 2020 AND 2021
On Saturday, November 20 at 7:30 PM in Crowder Hall the Arizona Symphony Orchestra of the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music will present A MAHLER REQUIEM, conducted by Dr. Thomas Cockrell. Faculty mezzo-soprano Kristin Dauphinais will be the featured soloist.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), known for his large, cosmos-encompassing symphonies did not compose an actual mass for the dead like Mozart, Verdi or Fauré. Cockrell has blended movements from works of Gustav Mahler concerning grief, mourning, loss, solace and hope as a musical offering of shared emotions to the community, the weekend before our national commemoration of Thanksgiving.
The evening will center on movements from Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5 (1905) paired with song settings of texts by German poet Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866). These include three from his Kindertotenlieder, “Songs on the death of children” which explore a parent’s journey through loss, grief, emptiness and eventual acceptance.
Cockrell recalls:
“During the darkest days of 2020, live music-making at the Fred Fox School of Music was suspended and our concert halls were hauntingly dark and silent. To persist in our teaching of music, a highly collaborative art, required the faculty to adapt and innovate. We taught solely online beginning March 2020 and then in the fall semester only masked and everyone distanced by twelve feet.”
“While prohibited from assembling to rehearse and perform as an orchestra for eighteen months, I planned for our long-awaited return to Crowder Hall, when we could again share our labors and art with our audience. I wanted to present a musical offering commemorating our shared ordeal, healing and thanksgiving. Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is a symphonic panorama that begins with a funeral march and proceeds through grief and violent rage to eventually give way to gentle solace followed by a rekindling of exuberant life.
Mahler’s music will be complemented with visual projections, not only of the moving song texts, but also poignant photographs captured during the pandemic by Arizona Daily Star photographers. Cockrell will comment upon the circumstances of Mahler’s music and its particular relevance to our time and the communal ordeal of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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