Mahler 8 at the Philharmonie

I’m on an charter flight with the orchestra to Lucerne right now, enjoying my complimentary Swiss chocolates, but what a day yesterday! It was concert day in Luxembourg, and I think I mentioned yesterday that there was a certain buzz about our concert in town. Well….that was certainly an understatement. Our Luxembourg friends organized a lunchtime press conference for us, as they don’t usually have American orchestras touring with Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand. The local press showed up in droves, quite interested in not just Mahler 8, but also our Mahler CD cycle, the latest issue, Mahler 5 was released in Europe today, just in time for the concert. But they were really captivated by the Symphony’s Keeping Score project, for PBS, radio, the web and schools. In Europe, where orchestras are heavily subsidized by governments and are not very involved in educational activities in the community, seeing an American orchestra take such an active role in engaging not just its hometown, but an entire country with opportunities to learn and connect with this music, seemed a very impressive and farsighted undertaking to these journalists. Music and education writers from the main Luxembourg papers, Belgian and French writers, radio, and even the European heavyweight, the Frankfurter Allgemeine all came to learn about what the San Francisco Symphony is up to these days.


MTT holding court with European Journalists at the Press Lunch


Press attention is nice, but now it was time to deliver the goods….concert time. Our performance was actually the season opening concert for the Philharmonie, a special honor for this very busy and beautiful venue. We were again told “never have we had such a problem with ticket availability” (it's so nice to be wanted isn’t it?). The hall filled to capacity, the national TV network RTL was ready, press boxes filled to the brim, and the cultural and political heavyweights turned out in full force. US Ambassador to Luxembourg, Ann Wagner was celebrating her birthday today, and she decided to spend it with the San Francisco Symphony and Mahler. She was joined by James Hormel, former US Ambassador to Luxembourg, and longtime Board Member of the SF Symphony. Mr. Hormel traveled with the orchestra, returning to Luxembourg for the first time since he held the prestigious post in 2000, and also generously provided sponsorship for the Orchestra’s appearance here.



MTT, US Ambassador Ann Wagner, former US Ambassador
Jim Hormel and SFS Executive Director Brent Assink


So.....the seats were filled, the musicians seated on stage, the choruses in the terrace, MTT on the podium and Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand was under way. And what a performance it was. I was lucky enough to see the breathtaking performances of Mahler's 8th last season in Davies Symphony Hall, which Rich Scheinin of the San Jose Mercury News described aptly "remarkable, ecstatic, emotionally draining, almost unbelievably thrilling and spectacular (you fill in the adjective)" (read Rich's full review). Those concerts were very special, but this was pretty darn close...a 90 minute tour de force of emotions, with a tremendous finale that Mahler himself described this way: "Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound." It proved a finale so moving that not only was Jim Hormel spotted wiping back a tear, but soprano soloist Erin Wall (who sang absolutely beautifully) unabashedly had tears rolling down her cheeks as the final bars of Mahler’s stunning work echoed through the Philharmonie. It was that kind of a night. The audience response was boisterous, Ambassador Wagner commented that she had never heard the usually reserved Luxembourgians this enthusiastic. Happy Birthday Madame Ambassadeur.


The San Francisco Symphony and cast of Mahler's Symphony No. 8


After the concert, MTT met his fans and signed copies of the orchestra's latest recording, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, which was just released by SFSMedia that day in Europe. These Luxembourgians are among the very first to have the copies in their hands and enthusiastically snapped them up. Mahler 5 is available in the US on a pre-sale basis at the SFS online store and available as a download at iTunes. But a group of MTT's biggest fans waited until the bitter end, after all the Mahler groupies had disappeared, to get their own special photo with the Maestro. Can you say "Charlie's Angels"?...



Mahler 8 cast members Elsa van den Heever, Elena Manistina, MTT,
Erin Wall, Laura Claycomb, and Michelle DeYoung