Roberto Abbado conducts Mahler's 'Seventh' with the Valencian Community Orchestra
23.05.2018
On May 25, Roberto Abbado will conduct Gustav Mahler's 'Seventh' Symphony with the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (OCV) at the Auditori del Palau de les Arts.
The Milanese maestro, principal conductor of the OCV, returns to Valencia after almost three months at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he has given celebrated performances of Donizetti's opera 'Lucia di Lammermoor', with leading divas of bel canto: Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti, Jessica Pratt and Pretty Yende.
Les Arts' resident orchestra resumes Mahler's symphonic repertoire with Abbado. Zubin Mehta initiated the cycle in 2007 with his 'Second' Symphony, known as "Resurrection," and a year later Lorin Maazel chose the Czech-Austrian composer's Fourth Symphony for the inaugural performance at the Auditori de Castelló.
In June 2011, the OCV, with Zubin Mehta as musical director, traveled to Granada to inaugurate the LX International Festival of Music and Dance with the 'Third' and in 2013 Omer Meir Wellber selected the 'Ninth' for the concert cycle with which he said goodbye to the title of principal conductor of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana .
Also, in June 2017, Asher Fisch conducted the 'Titan Symphony' for the OCV's debut at the Palau de la Música in Valencia.
Mahler's Seventh Symphony is traditionally the least popular and least performed work in his catalog. However, the piece has regained public interest thanks to great conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Rafael Kubelik, Claudio Abbado, Klaus Tennstedt, and George Solti.
Premiered in Prague in 1908, the Seventh Symphony consists of four movements and, like the two preceding symphonies, is composed without vocals. Mahler also added several unconventional instruments to an orchestra, such as the guitar and mandolin.
Les Arts informs that ticket prices for this concert range from 30 to 45 euros depending on the visibility of the different areas of the Auditori.
Maestro Abbado will, for the third consecutive year, be the star of the season's closing concert. In addition to Mahler's Seventh Symphony, the Milanese conductor will lead the Les Arts orchestra in a concert featuring the legendary soprano Mariella Devia.
Berlioz's 'La damnation de Faust', recently named best show in Italy, will also feature Roberto Abbado in the pit.
