Symphony Concert N° 5
Melancholy songs
gespielte Werke
Jörg Widmann
- "Song" for orchestra
Gustav Mahler
- »Das Lied von der Erde«
Mitwirkende
- Daniele Gatti Conductor
- Marie-Nicole Lemieux Contralto
- Klaus Florian Vogt Tenor
A work poised between symphony and song cycle: with »The Song of the Earth«, Gustav Mahler deliberately sought a new path following his Eighth. Fearing the »curse of the ninth«, he simply called his next work a »song«, and yet actually created a monumental »Symphony for Tenor and Alto Voice and Orchestra«. Here the human voice becomes part of the orchestral texture in a piece permeated by existential questions of farewell and transience. After the Dresden premiere in 1916 under Fritz Reiner, critics praised Mahler’s masterful orchestration. The concert opens with the 2003 instrumental work »Lied« by Jörg Widmann, the Staatskapelle’s current Capell-Compositeur.
Gustav Mahler:
»Das Lied von der Erde«»›Das Lied von der Erde‹ ist weder nur ein Liederzyklus, noch nur eine Sinfonie – und doch weit mehr als beides zugleich! Man muss sich Gustav Mahler vorstellen, wie er im Angesicht seiner tiefsten persönlichen und gleichzeitig schlimmsten beruflichen Krise in Toblach im Wald in einer Holzhütte sitzt, seinem ›Komponierhäusl‹, und sich mit chinesischer Lyrik beschäftigt. Dort entsteht, auf Grundlage dieser Gedichte, ein Werk, das alle Aspekte des menschlichen Daseins bis ins Kleinste auslotet: Jugend, Schönheit, Frühling, Natur, Herbst, Jammer, Rausch. Und am Ende: Abschied. Abschied von der Welt.«
Julius Rönnebeck
2. Hornist
- Sunday17.1.2711:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
36 – 82 € - Monday18.1.2719:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
20 – 73 € - Tuesday19.1.2719:00 UhrSemperoperTicket price:
12 – 73 €
A concert introduction will be offered 45 minutes before the beginning of each performance in the opera cellar of the Semperoper.
The concerts on 18 and 19 January 2027, both at 7 pm, will be recorded and broadcast at a later date.
Daniele Gatti
Daniele Gatti has been Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since the 2024/25 season. He made his debut with the orchestra in February 2000 at the invitation of the then Principal Conductor, Giuseppe Sinopoli, with a programme featuring works by Mendelssohn, Hindemith and Brahms. Over the following years, the Italian maestro returned several times to Dresden. Gatti’s mastery of the Staatskapelle’s core repertoire, his visionary interpretations and keen sense of the sound and unique traditions of this historic ensemble are an assurance of outstanding concert experiences. In addition to his post in Dresden, Daniele Gatti is also the Music Director of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where he was Principal Conductor from 2022 to 2024.
In his third season, he continues the Staatskapelle’s first complete Mahler cycle with »Abschied« (»Farewell«). In 2026/27, he conducts the opening concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden and inaugurates the new season of the Semperoper with »Un ballo in maschera«, where he is also expected to return later for »Parsifal«. Still at the helm of the Staatskapelle, he undertakes three European tours; the third, in 2027 the year marking the bicentenary of Beethoven’s death sees him engaged in the complete performance of the c omposer’s nine symphonies. At the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, he will instead take the podium to conduct three operas »Il trovatore«, »Elektra«, and »Don Giovanni« as well as a series of symphonic engagements, including the beginning of a cycle devoted to Bruckner.
Born in Milan in 1961, Daniele Gatti studied composition and orchestral conducting at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in his home city. This was followed by his first permanent appointments with major musical institutions such as the Accad emia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Zurich Opera House and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He continues to app ear regularly as a guest conductor with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. Daniele Gatti has been awarded the »Franco Abbiati« Prize by Italian music critics as Best Conductor on three occasions. In 2016, he was app ointed Che valier de la Légion d’honneur by the French Republic for his work as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France. In his native Italy, he has also received the honorary title of »Grand Officer of the Order of Merit«.
Since 2016, he has he ld a professorship in conducting at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
It is no wonder that Marie-Nicole Lemieux shines today in the world of singing: the singer like the woman radiates an aura that belongs only to the greatest.
The breadth of her voice, her magnificently held line combined with a flawless virtuosity allow her to triumph in various repertoires. Her early career was marked by Baroque music (Orphée et Eurydice, Giulio Cesare, Orlando Furioso...). Rapidly, the evolution of her voice allows her to approach the French repertoire of the 19th century (Les Troyens, Samson et Dalila, Carmen, Werther...), Rossini (Tancredi, L'Italiana in Algeri...), Verdi (Falstaff, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera...) and Wagner (Der Ring des Nibelungen).
Her international career brought her to the world's greatest opera houses (New York, Milan, London, Paris, Salzburg, Zurich, Vienna, Madrid...) as well as to glorious concert halls where Marie-Nicole Lemieux has been invited to sing the great symphonic repertoire with the most prestigious orchestras and conductors.
The extent of her vocal range also makes her an outstanding recitalist, a recognized interpreter of French and Russian melodies and German Lieder.
Her rich and varied discography has won many awards and she is recording exclusively for Warner Classics.
Marie-Nicole Lemieux is a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, Compagne des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, member of the Order of Canada and of the Order of the Pleiades, Knight of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She also has a Doctor Honoris Causa delivered by the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.
Klaus Florian Vogt
Born in Holstein, in the North of Germany, Klaus Florian Vogt studied horn and played for several years with the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. Later he studied at the Conservatory in Lübeck and gave up his position as a horn player in the orchestra to become a tenor. He made his debut in Flensburg and then became a member of the company at the Opera in Dresden. Since 2003 he has been a freelance artist.
Klaus Florian Vogt’s Lohengrin takes him to the most important stages all over the world. The tenor has established his reputation also as a concert singer and a fine interpreter of Lied. His international recital career took him many times to Vienna, New York, London, Athens, Berlin, Leipzig as well as the Tanglewood Festival, the Grafenegg Festival the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Salzburg Festival.
In 2007 Klaus Florian Vogt gave a triumphal debut as Walther von Stolzing at the Bayreuth Festival in a new staging by Katharina Wagner of »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«. From 2011 to 2015 he achieved further notable success as Lohengrin in the staging by Hans Neuenfels. In 2016 the audience saw him in the titel role of a new production of »Parsifal« under the baton of Hartmut Haenchen. In 2017 and 2018 he performed Stolzing in an other new Bayreuth production of »Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg«, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Philippe Jordan, in 2019 he returend to the festival for the revival of the production and for the title role in »Lohengrin« in the production from 2018.
