Gravitations: The song of the people (World Premiere)

About the production

The concert evening revolves around Gustav Mahler's symphonic song cycle »Das Lied von der Erde«, whose poetic sources lie in ancient China. Zhang Jun, master of Chinese Kunqu, and the cosmopolitan jazz musician Haggai Cohen-Milo reinterpret Mahler's music and poems from centuries past with their ensembles for the Lausitz Festival. Mahler's famous work forms the gravitational field to which the artists approach and from which they also distance themselves again.

Mahler's music is represented by the flute and harp, as both instruments play a key role in »Das Lied von der Erde«. The music was specially composed by Haggai Cohen-Milo. Zhang Jun interprets the poems from ancient China in the style of Kunqu – the oldest surviving Asian opera school, whose origins date back to at least the 16th century. Both encounter partly improvised jazz and rap – art forms with African-American roots. By circling each other, the artists create a new cosmos in which sources, forms and styles interact. Their artistic means are global and universal. They create a song about people in which history, societies and times are preserved.

»Gravitations« is the title of a whole group of compositions within the rich oeuvre of Haggai Cohen-Milo. His aim is to creatively engage with selected material from the canon of so-called classical music using the means of jazz. His points of reference are Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Gustav Mahler's Song of the Earth. The programmes have been performed and filmed on three evenings in the first half of 2025 in the Small Hall of the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. Excerpts from concert recordings were also released this early summer as a live album on CD entitled »Gravitations«. 

»Das Lied von den Menschen«, which will premiere at the Lausitz Festival in early September 2025 in the village church of Cunewalde, is in a sense a continuation of »Gravitations: Mahler« and yet a cosmos of its own in this series. The music is arranged for a significantly larger ensemble, which also includes classical Western and Chinese instruments. Above all, however, Zhang Jun's participation lends the work a very special historical depth. The Kunqu master brings some of the poems that Hans Bethge translated into German in the early 20th century under the title »Die chinesische Flöte« (The Chinese Flute) and six of which Gustav Mahler set to music for his »Lied von der Erde« (Song of the Earth) back into the language in which they were originally written: Chinese.

By bus & train to the event

Why don't you leave your car at home and come to the event by public transport? Click on the button to calculate your route. The destination is already pre-filled in the trip planner.

We owe this service for the Lausitz Festival to the transport associations VVO, VBB and ZVON.

Plan your trip

Special buses in service

The Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien (ZVON) will provide bus line 510 at the village church in Cunewalde for two special trips on both evenings after the concert. One bus will go to Löbau, the other to Bautzen. Both will go to the respective train stations.

To Löbau:

From Cunewalde Church: 9:30 p.m.

Arrival at Löbau Station: 9:57 p.m.

Connection to the train to Görlitz at 10:13 p.m. and 10:33 p.m.

To Bautzen:

From Cunewalde Church: 9:20 p.m.

At Bautzen train station: 9:45 p.m.

Connection to the train to Dresden at 9:55 p.m. and to the train to Görlitz at 9:56 p.m. and 10:20 p.m.

Accessibility

The venue for this event is partially accessible.

Details