Political slogans chanted at end of Mahler’s Resurrection
mainFrom our Chile correspondent Felipe Elgueta:
An extraordinary performance of Mahler’s second symphony in the heart of troubled Santiago de Chile ended on Tuesday with flags waved and slogans chanted for the movement for social justice.
Mahler would probably have approved.
The performance was organised and conducted by Alejandra Urrutia, who had just lost her father.
The chorus was made up mostly of beginners. The orchestra was composed of young professionals and conservatory students, many of them recent migrants from stricken Venezuela.
This is a very 2020 concert.
Watch.
Speech of Alejandra Urrutia. Conductor
Two days after the first Concierto por La Hermandad (Concert for our
Humanity) last year, we met with Paula, Angelica, Caroline and Felipe
in a café and started planning this year’s concert. Mahler! It has to
be Gustav Mahler!
Paula was convinced that it had to be the Second Symphony and… she convinced us.
Life, death, nostalgia and finally surrender to what is to come. Beautiful!
And two months ago, the whole theme became very much more personal
when my beloved father, passed away… Gustav Mahler gave me the
possibility to understand at a deeper level what it means to die and
be reborn. He gave me a way to go on an inner journey finding meaning,
comfort and clarity that the future would be fuller because of the
past we had lived together.
Then… after this grand farewell, came another one… all that we are
living here in Chile. One can see the transformation all around us, in
fact it’s hard not to. But this day at least, we have the opportunity
to experience the transcendence…the rebirth, to feel what is to come
through the other side because of our united humanity.
And we have the guidance tonight of this great composer Gustav Mahler
accompanied by two incredible soloists – soprano Fanny Becerra and
contralto Claudia Lepe. An orchestra of the highest level of talent
and spirit. They are fabulous! And a citizen’s choir, totally
dedicated and sublime.
A new era for music. Collaboration between many. Success for all.
Finally, to understand how small our world really is… less than a
week ago, a new friend arrived at our door, from Mexico. Francisco
Bricio. Francisco saw in the world of social media, the news of this
great Concert for Humanity. He is the president of the Mahler Society
of Mexico and Vice-President of the Mahler Foundation of Vienna and
happened to be passing through Santiago for his vacation with his
beautiful family. He came to a rehearsal and shared with us wonderful
history of Mahler and this symphony, inspiring us as musicians and
enhancing the notes we play and sing that we will live toghether now.
photo and report: Felipe Elgueta
==understand at a deeper level what it means to die and
be reborn.
Well not according to Maestro Muti in yesterday’s post who is personally preparing for endless darkness
Great surprise to see the lovely Claudia Lepe singing!
Holá de alemania!
A very great achievement and the climax on “tragen” is superbly done.
One of those very special occasions….thank you for posting.
i’m in tears
That looks like Mapocho Station. There are excellent fruit, veg and fish markets right outside.
So next time Mahler’s 4th.
Don’t think so. The core of the Concierto por la Hermandad initiative is the rehearsal process and stage presence of the Coro por la Hermandad, as a process and symbol of community building.
Gustavo, you regularly crack me up!
I don’t think Mahler would have approved of shouted political comments. He didn’t operate on the political plane. There are always opposing views in politics. It divides people. I would say its opposed to the meaning and purpose of this work.
You are absolutely right. The event was planned according to that spirit of complete unity, but during the applause some people at the orchestra and the audience demonstrated spontaneously for less than minute in support of the social (non-partisan) movement (as you can see on the video). I think Norman gave too much importance to that when choosing the title for this note.
You must be one, in order to believe that the best economy in the region plus a democracy full of individual liberties like Chile is the hell like they propose. For then Venezuela and Bolivia are the good things. It’s just a bad joke
I would translate “a Hermandad” as the brotherhood, but not humanity. Anyway, it doesn’t change too much the pure political bias message of this event.
Yes, “Hermandad” is brotherhood or fraternity, but the organisers found the word “Humanity” more adequate for conveying the spirit of complete unity that guided the preparation of this event. Anyway, during the applause some people at the orchestra and the audience demonstrated spontaneously for less than minute in support of the social (non-partisan) movement (as you can see on the video). I think Norman gave too much importance to that when choosing the title for this note.
What a great performance! Urrutia is fantastic, please let’s see and hear more of her – the soloists and orchestra were stunning, and the ‘Beginner’s’ Chorus was very impressive. Plus, the video direction was superb (though the camera tracking around in front of the orchestra must have been distracting…) – there’s a real sense of being there.
Not sure if we needed the Headline, which gave me a completely different expectation…
Thank you very much for your comment. I’d love to tell you more about this concert. Could you contact me at felguetacl@gmail.com? Thanks again!
Such an uplifting performance! Special mention to the principal trumpet who soared to those high notes with such beauty. Tears here…
Hermes Hermosilla, he is a young and wonderful player!