“Mahler lasers through body walls and goes straight to the soul”

Norman Lebrecht

This November, EUMS Symphony Orchestra will be performing a sensational programme of Mahler.

The orchestra, under the inspirational baton of Russell Cowieson, will be collaborating with baritone Douglas Nairne in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.Mahler composed this song cycle following an unhappy love affair with the soprano Johanna Richter. In a letter to a friend, telling of his heart break, he writes, “The songs are a sequence in which a wayfaring craftsman, who has had a great sorrow, goes out into the world and wanders aimlessly”. The cycle consists of four songs which Mahler also wrote the words for. The melodies are reckless and shocked audiences at the time, “he soars and swoops, shedding dignity for raw pain, attacking loneliness, poverty and death”.

The orchestra will conclude the programme with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Often considered one of the greatest symphonies composed, Mahler began writing it when he was 29 years old. He incorporates many of the melodies from the song cycle and ultimately produces a work that depicts the uneasiness of his difficult childhood and the beauty of the landscape of the Austrian countryside.

“This symphonic composition is the work of a young, unbridled and untameable talent, which must forcibly stem the flood of melodic motifs pressing forth from it, which breaks through the framework of all conventional forms and seeks to create something new…an storm of applause broke out at the end of every movement of his work.”

These inspiring works mixed with the enthusiasm of the orchestra, look to produce an spectacular evening….

Doors open at 7pm, and it is recommended that you arrive early to ensure that you are not disappointed!

To buy tickets, click the link below: