Gustav Mahler, the 19th-century Austrian Jewish composer, famously stated that “A symphony must be like the world — it must embrace everything.”
On Saturday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m., the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO) will aim to embrace everything at the Emmanuel United Church, when the musicians play Mahler’s Fourth Symphony for “Step into the Light,” the final concert of the PSO’s 2024-25 season.
“The Emmanuel United Church is a great venue to do concerts, and especially acoustically because we’ll have a vocalist, and sung music sounds really great — so warm and so inviting,” PSO music director and conductor Michael Newnham tells kawarthaNOW. “It will be a great-sounding concert that we’re looking forward to.”
While the season finale will feature the largest orchestra the PSO has seen this season, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 is one of his shortest at just under an hour with four movements (though an early version of it had six). Composed from 1899 to 1900, the symphony remains one of Mahler’s most popular.
“The music itself is really different and has a feeling of lightness, nostalgia, and this floating feeling,” says Newnham. “There are also moments where there’s an amount of dream quality in the music.”
In the fourth and final movement, a soprano soloist comes in to sing a song based on Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poetry. The movement was composed in 1892, originally intended to be use in Mahler’s Third Symphony. The soprano represents a child with a naive and carefree vision of heaven that depicts music, dancing, and the preparation of a feast.
“It’s all about life and our place in the world, and how nature works and what God has to do with everything, and this simply is how a child would see these kinds of things,” explains Newnham. “These are timeless issues and people tend to really love this symphony.”
VIDEO: Mahler’s Symphony no. 4, IV featuring Sabine Devieilhe
New Brunswick-based soprano Christina Raphaëlle Haldane will be joining the PSO for the performance. With a career spanning the globe, Haldane has interpreted many lead opera roles across opera houses such as the Finnish National Opera, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and Musica Viva Hong Kong.
She has also worked with PSO general manager Christie Goodwin on the East coast, and will be visiting family in Peterborough when she joins the “Step into the Light” concert.
“This is the thing she does — Mahler,” says Newnham. “She’s coming from halfway across the country to do this.”
In a special treat for the season finale concert, two more soloists will join the PSO for the recital of Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s award-winning Double Concerto for cello and harp.
Titled “En el Escuro, es Todo Uno” (“In the Darkness, All is One”), the piece explores the music of Sephardic Jews of the Iberian Peninsula and how it impacted other cultures as the diaspora settled in Morocco, Tunisia, and parts of Europe. The piece was composed for the Azrieli Foundation after Murphy was awarded the 2018 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music.
“I thought it was just fantastic and really fresh and fun to listen to,” Newnham says. “We’re really grateful to be able to perform this music.”
VIDEO: Excerpt from Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Double Concerto for Cello & Harp
Playing the cello will be Stéphane Tétreault who, among several other awards, is the recipient of the prestigious 2019 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and was a nominee for the Oscar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance from the Ontario Arts Council. He is also the laureate of the 2022 Prix Opus for “Performer of the Year”, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique.
Tétreault has previously performed with the PSO, and Newnham has since been “looking for ways of getting Stéphane to come back.”
New to the PSO will be harpist Valérie Milot, an award-winning musician who is a professor of harp and chamber music at the Montreal Conservatory of Music. She is also the instigator of the Harpenning series of concerts and workshops that aim to increase the discoverability of the harp. She and Tétreault often perform as a duo.
“They’re a really exciting duo, and it’s always nice to work with people who already work together because there’s even more of an energy and interplay,” says PSO general manager Christie Goodwin.
Goodwin adds how special it is to have three soloists coming from across Canada for the concert.
“It’s really important to support and amplify our own artistic talents, and it brings the world here,” she says. “I think that’s why it’s important to have a regional orchestra, because you get these lovely people who are performing on huge stages all over the world and they come to Peterborough and share their talent with us. It’s inspiring for the other musicians in the orchestra.”
Goodwin notes that having performers like Tétreault, who audiences might be familiar with, helps them feel a “connection.”
“This is all about creating community and we can do that by bringing in somebody from Montreal, and we feel like we know him because we heard him on our radio,” she says, adding, “we’re so grateful to the Azrieli Foundation for giving us this opportunity to play Murphy’s concerto.”
To open the concert, Newnham has chosen “Fratres” (“Brothers”), written by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in 1977. At the time of its writing, Pärt was facing constraints and creative censorship from the Soviet Union, making the work not initially well-received.
“It’s this 20th-century imitation of what monks chanting in a monastery in the mountains might sound like and it’s a very spiritual piece,” Newnham says. “It signalled a huge change politically for the Soviet Union, because a composer was brave enough to write something that sounded like liturgical music and then it exploded (in popularity) — especially during the nineties after the fall of the Berlin Wall.”
Before the concert, Newnham will host a “Meet the Maestro” talk at 6:45 p.m., and guests will have the opportunity to get a preview and learn more about what’s in store for PSO’s 2025-26 season.
Goodwin promises “really different and interesting things” for the next season, including a collaboration with the Peterborough Singers.
“I think people will find it pretty new and unique,” she says. “We’ve got a lot of things that are going to satisfy everybody who likes their Mozart and beyond.”
VIDEO: “Si Veriash a la Rana” by Kelly-Marie Murphy with Stéphane Tétreault & Valérie Milot
“Step into the Light” follows what was to be the penultimate concert of the season on March 29, “Spring Sunrise.” Ironically, it was cancelled due to the severe ice storm.
While Goodwin says the PSO is “so grateful to everyone who donated the value of their tickets” instead of asking for a refund, as this allowed the orchestra to still pay the musicians despite the last-minute cancellation, she also remains hopeful that “Step into the Light” will make up for the cancelled concert.
“It’s going to be the biggest orchestra of the season,” she says. “The sound in the church is going to be so beautiful, and it’s just going to float right up. I think it’s beautiful and will be inspiring and energizing.”
Tickets are $33, $48, or $55, depending on the seat you choose, with student tickets costing $12 for all seats. Tickets are available at thepso.org/step-into-the-light.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-25 season.
