15.02.2026

ELEANOR LYONS in Mahler's Eighth Symphony with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra

With its monumental instrumentation, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in E flat major is considered one of the greatest challenges in the classical repertoire, one that Australian soprano Eleanor Lyons enjoys tackling on a regular basis.

In addition to Mahler's Fourth and, above all, Second Symphonies, which she has performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under Kazuki Yamada and the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino under Aziz Shokhakimov, Mahler's Eighth – including the parts of Magna Peccatrix (soprano I) and Una Poenitentium (soprano II) – a central part of her concert repertoire. Eleanor Lyons made her memorable debut in 2023 at the Mahler Festival of the Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano in Milan Cathedral, followed by performances with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria under Yutaka Sado at the Vienna Musikverein and the Festspielhaus St. Pölten.

With Eliahu Inbal, who has been associated with the orchestra for decades, at the podium, Eleanor Lyons will now also make her debut with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in February and can be heard as Una Poenitentium on a total of three evenings at Suntory Hall and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. The orchestra is thus honouring the 90th birthday of its former principal conductor and current conductor laureate, who is considered one of the most important Mahler conductors of the 20th/21st century.

In this spirit, we wish Eleanor...

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Cast

Sumi Hwang, soprano I
Eleanor Lyons, soprano II
Ayaka Oki, soprano III
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano I
Hiroka Yamashita, mezzo-soprano II
Magnus Vigilius, tenor
Birger Radde, baritone
Hidekazu Tsumaya, bass

Eliahu Inbal, conductor
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
New National Theatre Chorus, chorus
The Little Singers of Tokyo, children's chorus