On 6 September 2025, Josep Pons conducts Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”, at the Basilica of Santa Maria de Montserrat. The concert forms part of the Montserrat Millennium Music Festival and brings together the Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the Orfeó Català.
The vocal soloists are soprano Katharina Konradi and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, while Kai Gleusteen, concertmaster of the Liceu Orchestra, leads the large instrumental ensemble. Taking place shortly before the official opening of the 2025/26 season, the performance represents one of the Gran Teatre del Liceu’s principal contributions to the Abbey’s thousandth-anniversary celebrations.
Composed between 1888 and 1894, the Second Symphony is one of Mahler’s most monumental creations. Across five movements and approximately eighty minutes, the work traces an immense spiritual journey, beginning with death and uncertainty before culminating in an affirmation of hope, transformation and rebirth.
Mahler radically expands the boundaries of the symphonic form through a vast orchestra, two vocal soloists, chorus and an exceptional range of colours and contrasts. From the opening funeral march to the final choral outburst, the score unfolds as a profound meditation on human existence and the possibility of transcending death.
Performing the work at Montserrat creates a particularly powerful dialogue between its meaning and its setting. Mahler’s message of resurrection resonates within a basilica associated for a thousand years with the spiritual, cultural and musical life of Catalonia, transforming the concert into an experience that reaches beyond the purely symphonic.
The occasion also carries particular personal significance for Josep Pons, a former member of the Escolania de Montserrat and a conductor with a deep knowledge of Mahler’s musical world. Throughout his career, he has maintained a sustained commitment to the composer’s work and has participated in the revision of new editions of Mahler’s scores for Universal Edition.
The concert continues the relationship between the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Montserrat, strengthened in recent years through several shared musical projects. It also forms part of the Mahler Universe, one of the central symphonic projects developed by Josep Pons with the Liceu’s resident musical ensembles.
Through the “Resurrection” Symphony, the Liceu joins the Millennium celebrations with a work that confronts some of humanity’s most profound questions and culminates in a message of life, hope and transcendence.