Fort Wayne Philharmonic

Chicago-based soprano Emily Birsan sings Barber’s free-flowing, gentle setting of the childhood recollections of journalist and screenwriter James Agee (1909-1955) from his novel A Death in the Family, creating a perfect portrait of a bygone era.

Mahler’s most frequently-performed symphony doesn’t wrestle with heavy themes; it’s a childlike reverie inspired by the German folk tales in Des Knaben Wunderhorn by von Arnim and Bretano (1806) a century before Mahler’s time. In the final movement, the soprano sings a curious song of a child’s view of Heaven and what it’s like to live there.