Colorado MahlerFest’s Envisioning Mahler program invited artists to listen to and respond to Mahler’s Second Symphony, ahead of our scheduled performance of the symphony on May 17, 2020, (since canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). We believe that exploring the connections between music and the visual arts can be an exciting and rewarding experience for artists, audiences, and viewers. 

Mahler’s deeply emotional music resonates with the same philosophical themes about the meaning of life and death that visual artists have long wrestled with in their works. Moreover, his vibrant orchestral palette lends itself naturally to imaginative visual explorations of line, shape, and color.  

This season, the inclusion of Philip Sawyers’ Homage to Kandinsky has provided an added opportunity for a reboot of our visual arts program, which was part of MahlerFests XVI and XVII in the early 2000s. 

Hover on any image to stop the slideshow or click any image to open it in a new window.