CSO’s Magnificent Mahler Program Showcases Symphony No. 6 2/10-11

CSO Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni leads the Columbus Symphony in a complete performance of one of his own personal favorites, Mahler's magnificent Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, Tragic.

WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders at 7pm each night on the fourth floor of the Ohio Theatre's Galbreath Pavilion.

The Columbus Symphony presents Magnificent Mahler at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Friday and Saturday, February 10 and 11, at 8pm daily.

Tickets are $24.75-$68 and can be purchased at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com.

To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. The Ohio Theatre Ticket Office will also be open two hours prior to each performance. Students between the ages of 13-19 may purchase $5 PNC Arts Alive All Access tickets while available.

The 2011-12 Masterworks Series is made possible through the generous support of season sponsor Battelle.

About CSO Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni: "A graduate of the Montreal Conservatory, Jean-Marie Zeitouni has emerged as one of Canada's brightest young conductors with an eloquent yet fiery style in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. He was installed as Music Director of the Columbus Symphony in October 2010, and also serves as principal conductor and artistic director designate of I Musici de Montréal, a prestigious Canadian chamber orchestra. Jean-Marie also enjoys a long association with Les Violons du Roy, a celebrated chamber orchestra based in Quebec City, first as conductor-in-residence, then as associate conductor, and since 2008, as principal guest conductor. Over the years, he has led the ensemble in more than 200 performances in the province of Québec, across Canada, and in Mexico. In 2006, he recorded his first CD with Les Violons du Roy entitled Piazzolla which received a 2007 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year in the category of Solo or Chamber Ensemble. They also recorded two subsequent CDs-Bartok (2008) and Britten (2010)."

About composer Gustav Mahler (1860–1911): "Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. During his lifetime, his status as a conductor was established beyond question, but his own music did not gain wide popularity until after 1945, when it was discovered and championed by a new generation of listeners. Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. The Symphony No. 6 in A minor, composed between 1903 and 1904, is sometimes referred to as the Tragische ("Tragic"). Its first performance was in Essen, on May 27, 1906, and was conducted by Mahler."

The tragic ending of the work was unexpected, as it was composed during an exceptionally happy time in Mahler's life. He had married in 1902, and during the course of the work's composition, his second daughter was born.

www.columbussymphony.com