Mahler Megasymphony: Marshalling the Troops
February 19, 2012, 1:00 pm
Mahler Megasymphony: Marshalling the Troops
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
[font size=1]Chorus members at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, Venezuela, on Friday for a
rehearsal of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.[/font]
CARACAS, Venezuela — That occasional thumping sound on Friday was a member of the chorus of almost 1,200 collapsing under the hot lights on the vast scaffolding in the Teresa Carreño Theater here.
Choruses from around the country joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra for rehearsals of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which was transmitted live in movie theaters on Saturday night, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, the music director of both orchestras. Production officials said the singers would be issued bottles of water before going on stage to guard against collapse during the live show.
The performance was seen in 430 theaters in the United States and Canada, and several in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, but not here in Venezuela. Instead, it was shown on a state television channel, TVes.
“It was important to our El Sistema friends to have it widely available on TV,” said Chris Ayzoukian, the Philharmonic’s director of recorded media and special projects. “They wanted to show it to the widest possible audience.” El Sistema is the national music education program that sponsored the visit and created the Simón Bolívar orchestra.
More:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/mahler-megasymphony-marshalling-the-troops/