PREMIERE
FESTSPIELHAUS CO-PRODUCTION

PROGRAM

* Gustav Mahler The Song of the Earth Symphony for Tenor, Alto and Orchestra

Performance/Music/Vocal Gustav Mahler’s Song of the Earth is one of the greatest symphonic works – music that confronts us with our own transience but also with our responsibility for how we treat our own planet. Lemi Ponifasio comes from Samoa, lives in New Zealand and is an internationally renowned director. With his MAU Company, singers from Europe and the Pacific and the Tonkunstler Orchestra conducted by Hans Graf, Ponifasio explores contemporary visions in Mahler’s masterpiece. Occidental farewells and a Pacific celebration of life create a haunting visual and musical rallying cry for our burning planet in crisis.

Lemi Ponifasio direction, stage and choreography, Helen Todd light, Hans Graf musical direction, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner mezzo-soprano, Pene Pati tenor, MAU Company, Tonkunstler Orchestra

Commissioned production Festspielhaus St. Pölten and Hawkes Bay Arts Festival New Zealand
Co-curated by Mahler Foundation