The title of a recently published biography hails her as “Europe’s greatest female composer.” Emilie Mayer (1812–1883), who made her home in Berlin for many years and had some of her works performed at the Schauspielhaus on Gendarmenmarkt, just a few hundred meters from the Pierre Boulez Saal, fell into oblivion shortly after her death. While her songs and chamber music have been performed more frequently over the last few years, the rediscovery of her symphonic works is only just beginning. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin now presents a survey of her music unprecedented in scope: all of Mayer’s surviving orchestral works, newly transcribed from the composer’s manuscripts, will be heard over the course of three concerts.
With support from LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin and the Freunde und Förderer der Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin