Song of the Earth
(Das Lied von der Erde)

Music by Gustav Mahler
Chamber arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg
Text from Hans Bethge’s Die chinesische Flöte
Conducted by David Angus | Directed by Anne Bogart

BLO’s Opera + Community Studios

Friday, March 20 | 7:30pm
Saturday, March 21 | 3:00pm
Sunday, March 22 | 3:00pm
Friday, March 27 | 7:30pm
Saturday, March 28 | 3:00pm
Sunday, March 29 | 3:00pm

Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission

An intimate staging of one of Mahler’s last works.

Composed in the shadow of profound personal tragedy, Gustav Mahler’s Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde) is a meditation on nature, longing, and farewell. Presented in Schoenberg’s chamber arrangement, director Anne Bogart’s new production uses projections, light, and immersive staging to invite you into the emotional core of the music while crafting a vivid sensory experience of beauty, fragility, and impermanence. BLO’s Opera + Community Studios provides a 250-seat setting designed for immediacy, creating a rare opportunity to encounter Mahler’s farewell up close — fleeting, intimate, and unrepeatable.

Song of the Earth takes place in a single room inhabited across time by three figures: the Poet, who occupies the space shortly before his death; the Lover, who remains after him, suspended in memory; and the Mother, who lives in the present, grieving the loss of her child. Though they share the room, they exist in different temporal states, their lives overlapping without fully touching. Through Mahler’s songs and additional spoken text written by Anne Bogart, the work becomes a meditation on grief, memory, and endurance—ending not with resolution, but with continuation, as loss and life persist side by side.

Arrive early for the pre-show experience – a threshold between worlds. We invite you to check your coat and your day at the door and enter a curated space rich with sound and ambiance as you tune into the resonance of the art, the community that has gathered, and the story that is about to unfold.

Brandon Jovanovich’s appearance is supported by Katie and Paul Buttenwieser.
Raehann Bryce-Davis’ appearance is supported by Winfield and Linda Perry.