Karita Mattila, Anssi Karttunen, David Robertson and the St Louis Symphony give concerts in St Louis and New York featuring the shaman inspired work Mirage by Kaija Saariaho. Premiered in Paris, Mirage is a setting of a transcendental chant of a Mazatec, Mexican shaman Marla Sabina. The work fuses the figures of soprano and shaman, with the cello as her instigator, questioner, and interpreter. Saariaho’s musical relationships with Karttunen and Mattila go back many years and she has written works for both as soloist. This is the first piece written for them together.
Performances in Powell Symphony Hall St Louis on March 27 and 29. The orchestra takes the piece to Carnegie Hall, New York on April 4
