If you could hear silence, how would it sound? Maybe something like the massive stillness that opens Mahler’s First Symphony: the starting point for a young artist’s journey to the heart of absolute tragedy and glorious triumph. It’s one of those pieces that simply has to be experienced live, and as part of our ongoing Composer Roots project, we’ll uncover its origins in Jewish folk music with the klezmer ensemble She’Koyokh. To open, an effervescent Broadway overture by Mahler’s great champion Leonard Bernstein and a magnificent rarity by a late-romantic master who shared Bernstein and Mahler’s Jewish heritage. In Ernest Bloch’s 'Schelomo', the solo cello is King Solomon, and its voice is his Song – by turns passionate, forthright, and uninhibitedly sensuous. Paul Moylan and She’koyokh's new 10 minute work, 'Klez’Mahler' will be performed by She’koyokh immediately prior to the Â鶹ÊÓƵAV SSO's performance of Mahler's 'Symphony No.1'.
Prelude: 6.45pm in the Recital Room
Writer and broadcaster Gavin Plumley talks about Mahler’s complex musical roots, and how they influenced the First Symphony (free to ticket-holders, subject to seating availability).
Post-Concert Coda (approximately 10 minutes after the concert), the klezmer ensemble She'Koyokh will give a short performance.
The main concert will be broadcast live on Â鶹ÊÓƵAV Radio 3 - presented by Kate Molleson.