NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Rundfunkchor Berlin / Alan Gilbert

Masterpieces from a historical turning point

»Rise again, yes, rise again thou wilt!« With overpowering optimism, the chorus at the end of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony presents the work’s religiously and philosophically motivated core message. And on the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra’s opening night in 2022, this message can also, by way of an exception, be understood in a very secular way. After three seasons disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, concert life will now hopefully »rise again« and fly high in 2022/23! Chief conductor Alan Gilbert is going all out for this new start and – with his musicians, renowned soloists and the combined power of two choirs – has purposely put one of the largest-scale symphonies in the canon on the programme for the season’s opening concert. Performances of Mahler’s epic »Resurrection« Symphony are always an impressive event – and that not only in Hamburg, where the composer found inspiration in St. Michel Church for the choral finale.