Małgorzata Walewska, Bassem Akiki and Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” to inaugurate the artistic season of Sinfonia Iuventus
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Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio in Warsaw will host the song cycle “Kindertotenlieder” by Gustav Mahler on September 7. Sinfonia Iuventus will be conducted by the Polish-Lebanese conductor Bassem Akiki, with mezzo-soprano Małgorzata Walewska singing the songs for the first time in her career.
“Songs on the Death of Children” is one of the most touching and moving song cycles in the entire history of music. Gustav Mahler began composing the score in 1901, during a difficult period in his life. The composer suffered from a severe illness, and his life was in jeopardy. The songs were composed to poems written by German romantic writer Friederich Rückert, while he was mourning the death of his two children at the turn of 1833/1834. The composer began working on the scores with no personal experience of losing a child. After the death of Mahler’s first daughter, Maria, who passed away at the age of five, Mahler said he could have never written such songs if he had experienced the tragedy at the time.
The concert will inaugurate the 2024/2025 artistic season of Sinfonia Iuventus. The program additionally features a symphonic prelude for violin and orchestra, “Mona Lisa Gioconda” by Ludomir Różycki and Symphony No. 2 in F minor, Op. 12 by Richard Strauss.