Resurrection (revival)
GUSTAV MAHLER
Symphony no.2 “RESURRECTION”
in UT Minor for Soprano, Alto
Mixed Chorus and Orchestra in five movements
First performed on 13/12/1985 in Berlin
with: Paris Orchestra
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
Stage Direction, Set Design,
Costumes, Lighting Romeo Castellucci
Dramaturgy Piersandra Di Matteo
Soprano Julie Roset
Alto Marie-Andrée Bouchard Lesieur
Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris
Chorus Master Richard Wilberforce
Stage Direction Collaboration Filippo Ferraresi
Set Design Collaboration Alessio Valmori
Lighting Collaboration Marco Giusti
With Andrea Barki, Bernard Di Domenico, Fabio Di Domenico,
Clémentine Auer, Emile Yebdri, Eurydice Gougeon-Marine,
Francis Vincenty, Jean-Marc Fillet, Maïlys Castets,
Matthieu Baquey, Michelle Salvatore, Raphaël Sawadogo-Mas,
Romain Lutinier, Sandra Français, Sarah Namata, Simone Gatti
Photographer Monika Rittershaus
Revival of the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2022 production
In co-production with Philharmonie de Paris, La Villette – Paris, Abu Dhabi Festival, and Teatro Colón
Co-production La Villette – Paris, Festival d’Automne, Philharmonie de Paris
Romeo Castellucci’s staging of Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony expresses all of this work’s tragic grandeur.
To magnify this monumental piece conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Castellucci offers a mournful “earth song” from which the audience does not emerge unscathed.
Composed by Gustav Mahler between 1888 and 1894, the “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 is literally a hallucinatory score, one which, like so many of his works, initially elicited incomprehension: “If what I just heard is music, then I no longer understand anything about music!” orchestra conductor Hans von Bülow told the composer.
And yet, it was at von Bülow’s funeral, in listening to the funeral march, that Mahler found the inspiration to complete this monumental work.
Faced with this score, which was designed to be listened to with one’s eyes closed – an unconventional object for the world of theatre –, Romeo Castellucci has opted for an implacable humility.
The chilling, dynamic installation he has designed emblazons itself on our retinas and memory. Miraculously, it makes Gustav Mahler’s imponderable magic all the more audible. In tune with Esa- Pekka Salonen, who seems to feel this music right down to the tip of his baton, the director delivers a moving earth song that incites us to live on in the face of death.
Performances: 28-30 November, 20h00