Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is the most widescale work of the composer, in terms of the resources. To perform the Symphony, full symphony orchestra, three choirs, and eight soloists are required. For good reason contemporaries baptized the work “the symphony of thousand participants”. Mahler did confess in a letter, “It’s the most significant work I have ever written… Imagine the Universe starts to sound and tinkle. Not human voices sing now, but suns and planets spinning round in circles”.

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The State Symphony Capella of Russia under Valery Polyansky’s leadership consists of over 200 performers and comprises a choir, an orchestra and soloist singers. Russian and international critics praise its profound interpretation solutions, the high culture of ensemble performance and impeccable sense of style.

The State Symphony Capella of Russia was founded in 1991 through merger of the USSR State Chamber Choir under the leadership of Valeri Polyansky and the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of Culture headed by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Valery Polyansky is its art director and chief conductor since 1992. The Capella tours Russia and abroad extensively, often featuring stars such as Kempf, Kopatchinskaja, Radulovich, Donohoe, Matsuev, Mechetina, and Baeva, among many others.