Name: Childhood Memories Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra in Residence 1
Start: 2023-10-10
End: 2023-10-10
Location: Poly Theater

Organization

Admin

Beijing Music Festival

Conductor

John Warner

Orchestra

Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra

Singer

Andy Shen Liu

Countertenor

Gabriella Noble

Soprano

Childhood Memories Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra in Residence 1

Beijing

China

Poly Theater

Childhood Memories Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra in Residence 1: Orisons Li, Z. (+2 More)

Public

Orisons

Utopia Twists

Symphony No. 4 (arr. John Warner)

Pallavi Pawar

Approved

This year, the BMF welcomes the brand-new Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra, establishing a partnership based on a shared artistic commitment to young musicians, to heritage and innovation, and to the future direction of classical music. Invited by the Mahler Foundation, the new generation British conductor John Warner founded the orchestra following the Foundation’s commitment to use Mahler’s music, vision and innovative spirit to inspire and unite audiences worldwide to face the challenges of the 21st century.
Four concerts in this special series combine works by young composers from China and abroad, some by 20th century masters and iconic works by Gustav Mahler. The list includes not only Mahler, Antonin Dvořák, Olivier Messiaen and George Benjamin, but composers born in the last quarter of the last century—Huang Ruo, Wang Ying, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Sasha Scott, Faykueen Wang, Shen Yiwen and Zhenyan Li, and among the performers for the world premiere works are young instrumentalists and singers. This initiative exemplifies the BMF’s hopes for the future, its continuing collaboration with important international organizations and commitment to promote new works, performers, composers to audiences around the world. Composers of different ages not only pen musical works that challenge their own times, but they also engage in dialogue with Mahler on such essential topics as childhood, nature and life.
Mahler was a man who always had a youthful spirit. For his Das Knaben Wunderhorn, he set the folk poem Der Himmel hängt voll Geigen to music. Mahler gives the title of this song as Das himmlische Leben, utilizing the harp and bells to create a heavenly scenario of a child’s imagination. He performed this work often in his early years, and later incorporated it as the finale of his Fourth Symphony. Interestingly, although the song
pertains to heaven, the lyrics are rooted in the earth: angels bake bread and St. Peter fishes in a pond… Apart from its childlike innocence and reverie, it also exemplifies Mahler’s unique brand of humor. A number of reduced orchestral arrangements have been made in the past century of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, and this concert features John Warner’s own version. The program also includes BMF new commissions by two young female composers hailing from China and England respectively—Zhenyan Li and Sasha Scott—each with a work associated with childhood and highlighting the young countertenor Andy Liu. New generation British conductor, arranger and Mahler expert John Warner leads the Mahler Festival Foundation Orchestra, and along with soprano Gabriella Noble, they bring us back to some sweet memories of childhood.

English

此次马勒基金会与北京国际音乐节展开深度合作 , 推出这支来自欧洲的全新的青年室内乐团— 马勒基金会节日乐团。此次合作缘起于北京国际音乐节与马勒基金会在关注青年音乐家、关注古典音乐文化传承与创新、关注古典音乐向未来迈进等领域的艺术默契。在马勒基金会的邀请下，英国青年指挥家约翰 • 华纳成立了这支乐团，旨于将马勒的音乐、观念和创新精神引领并团结世界各地的观众来面对属于 21 世纪全人类面临的共同挑战。
在特别策划推出的“马勒基金会节日乐团携当代新作对话马勒”的系列音乐会中，中外青年作曲家的作品将和多位二十世纪作曲名家的作品共同奏响，与作曲家马勒的经典作品展开对话。古典音乐巨匠马勒、德沃夏克与当代音乐名家梅西安、乔治•本杰明，从 70 至 90 后的青年作曲家黄若、王颖、安娜•索尔瓦尔德斯多蒂尔、萨莎•斯科特、 王斐南、沈逸文、李桢岩的作品共同亮相， 携全球青年阵容的独奏家和演唱家一同推出一系列首演作品， 此举为北京国际音乐节作为延续中国概念的未来展望，与国际重要音乐机构合作，秉持不断推出新作、新人，观众全球中外作曲新秀的又一重要行动。不同时代的作曲家们将用作品展现音乐创作风格的演进和跨越，从各自生活的时代出发，与马勒展开关于童年、自然与生命的对话。
马勒的内心始终住着一个纯真的孩子。他曾为《少年的魔法号角》中的一首名为“天堂里挂满小提琴”（Der Himmel hängt voll Geigen）的诗谱了曲，这首诗描写的是一个孩子天真地幻想着天堂的样子。马勒将这首歌曲命名为《天堂的生活》，用竖琴的拨奏与铃铛的声响来制造出天堂般的效果。马勒十分喜爱这首歌曲，经常在自己的音乐会上安排演奏它，最终它变成了第四交响曲的末乐章。有趣的是，尽管它所描绘的是天堂，歌词的描写却一直是世俗的：天使们烤制面包，圣彼得在池塘边钓鱼，这在表现了孩童的天真烂漫之余，也不乏马勒式的戏谑。将马勒第四交响曲改编成室内乐形式演奏已有一个世纪的历史，本场音乐会上我们欣赏到的是约翰•华纳的改编版。与之搭配的则是两位 90 后中英女性作曲家新秀 —— 李祯岩与萨沙•斯科特的两首作，同样以童年为主题，皆为北京国际音乐节委约作品 , 由青年假声男高音歌唱家刘珅演唱。新锐指挥家约翰•华纳执棒马勒基金会节日乐团和英国青年女高音歌唱家加布里埃拉•诺伯，让听众在这些美妙的音乐里告别现实，追忆童年情景，暂回纯真年代。

中文

Childhood Memories Mahler Foundation Festival Orchestra in Residence 1 by Li, Z., Scott, Sasha, Mahler, Tue 10 Oct 2023, From (2023/2023), Conductor John Warner, Poly Theater, Beijing, China

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

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Ensemble

Programme, About & Synopsis

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Further reading

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