[MUSIC] Mad About Mahler

The West Virginia Symphony will be performing Gustav Mahler‘s Symphony No. 3 at the Clay Center in Charleston. They’re joined by vocal soloist Gigi Mitchell-Velasco, the women of the West Virginia Symphony Chorus, the Mountain Laurel Ensemble, West Virginia Wesleyan College Women’s Chorus and Chanticleer Children’s Chorus, and the Appalachian Children’s Chorus. The concerts are November 14th and 15th at 8pm.

There will be hundreds of musicians singing nearly two hours of overwhelming and beautiful music–triumphal marches, sweeping strings, resonant brass and winds, an impressive battery of percussion instruments, as well as some poetry of Nietzsche, an angel’s song, and some rustic dances.  Due to the amount of people it requires, this piece isn’t performed too often, so this is a chance to see and hear something pretty special.

To get warmed up for the concert, you can attend a presentation about Mahler from a “Mahler scholar.”  On Wednesday afternoon, musicologist Timothy Freeze, visiting from Germany, will talk about “Mahler and his World” at the Clay Center Art Gallery, from 1:45-3pm.