Edinburgh International Festival: Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied

Thu 27 Aug · 19:30

Usher Hall

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About This Event

The Edinburgh International Festival will feature Mahler's Das Klagende Lied at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on 27th August 2026. The event will be performed by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, but the price is available on the event website.

Seize a rare chance to hear Gustav Mahler’s epic cantata Das klagende Lied (The Song of Lamentation). The Edinburgh Festival Chorus performs with a team of first-rate soloists and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of their former Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles, who is credited as making the orchestra sound ‘explosively alert’ (The Scotsman). Mahler's Das klagende Lied is inspired by two chilling German fairytales and explores themes of fratricide and ghostly revenge. A jealous man murders his younger brother. When a wandering minstrel makes one of the victim’s bones into a flute, it sings the tale of the crime – with cataclysmic consequences. Mahler’s score anticipates his later great symphonies in its colourful orchestration and melodic beauty. Highlights include vivid depictions of idyllic woodland and a lively wedding feast, plangent lyrical solos and choral writing full of drama.

Description supplied by the event organiser.

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Frequently asked questions

Edinburgh International Festival: Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied takes place on Thursday, 27 August 2026 at 19:30.

Edinburgh International Festival: Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied is held at Usher Hall in Edinburgh (Lothian Road, Edinburgh West EH1 2EA).

Tickets for Edinburgh International Festival: Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied can be booked via whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk using the "Check Tickets & Live Prices" button on this page, which opens the official booking site in a new tab.