Principal Conductor Marie Jacquot opens the Royal Danish Orchestra’s 2025–26 symphonic season with two luminous masterworks by Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, exploring the profound themes of life, death, and transcendence.

The program begins with Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung, a moving portrayal of an artist’s final moments—his pain, memories, and ultimate release into eternal peace—set to music of sublime power and beauty.

Following this, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 takes listeners on a journey from earthly concerns to heavenly serenity. Its final movement, Das himmlische Leben, sung by soprano Emily Pogorelc, offers a radiant vision of the afterlife through a child’s eyes—filled with joy, innocence, and wonder.

Emily Pogorelc, who captivated Danish audiences in the Royal Danish Opera’s 2023 production of La clemenza di Tito, returns to Copenhagen to lend her voice to Mahler’s poetic masterpiece.

Program:
• Richard Strauss – Tod und Verklärung
• Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 4 (Das himmlische Leben performed in German with Danish surtitles)

Performers:
• Emily Pogorelc – soprano
• Marie Jacquot – conductor
• The Royal Danish Orchestra