Mahler Memories

Everybody loves the underdog, and we can all relate to the misunderstood. It's those very sentiments that might explain the longevity of Boulder's cyclical MahlerFest, an annual symposium and concert series dreamed up by artistic director Robert Olson more than twenty years ago. The event — a tribute to that oft-underrated and misunderstood Viennese composer Gustav Mahler, whose works combine folk influences, romanticism, spiritualism and a good dose of darkness — continues to evolve.

This year, the volunteer-powered fest, which typically presents Mahler's nine symphonies in sequence from year to year, will diverge a bit to focus on the much-revised choral cantata Das klagende Lied. The MahlerFest Orchestra performs the work today in its original three-part form during the last of two concerts at Macky Auditorium on the University of Colorado campus. Tickets to the 3:30 p.m. program are $10 to $40; Totenfeier, an orchestral work never performed until after Mahler's death, is included in the program. For tickets and information, go to www.mahlerfest.org.
Sat., Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 13, 3:30 p.m., 2008