Iván Fischer conducts Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Symphony No. 5 — With Gerhild Romberger

The Budapest Festival Orchestra makes its Granada Festival debut with an epic all-Mahler program led by the great Iván Fischer. To begin, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Gerhild Romberger lends her warm timbre to the exquisite and heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children), settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert written in grief over the tragic death of two of Rückert’s children. The concert continues with Mahler’s iconic Symphony No. 5, a piece so beloved by American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein that he was buried with a copy of the score placed on his heart. Herbert von Karajan even said that “a great performance of [Mahler’s] Fifth is a transformative experience” and it is certainly clear why: from the legendary trumpet opening, through the moving and majestic third movement horn solos, to the timelessly beautiful and utterly romantic fourth movement Adagietto — which has become one of Mahler’s most widely-known works in its own right — the symphony is a true masterpiece not to be missed!

Also at the 2025 Festival de Granada, journey back to the Spanish Renaissance and 15th- and 16th-century Persian and Ottoman empires with a special evening of early music!

Photo © Akos Stiller