Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Closes 40th Season With Ives And Mahler

The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, led by conductor Benjamin Zander, concludes its 2018-19 season with a concert featuring two great symphonies on Friday, April 26, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall.

The program showcases Mahler's kaleidoscopic five-movement Fifth Symphony, which starts with themes of brooding, despair, and death; moves through feelings of great anguish, outlandish satire, and love-drenched musings; and concludes with optimism and hope. The concert opens with Ives' rarely heard Third Symphony, a gentle, contemplative work for chamber orchestra which muses on old American hymns.

"We placed the Ives Third Symphony on the program with Mahler because just such a conjunction almost took place," explains conductor Benjamin Zander. "Mahler had the intention of performing the premiere of this new work with the New York Philharmonic in the 1911 season - a season he did not live to conduct." Its premiere was delayed until 1946 and in 1947, it was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. The only performance of this American masterpiece in Symphony Hall was in 1983.

The program's inclusion of Mahler continues the season theme celebrating the 80th birthday of Maestro Benjamin Zander, who began conducting Mahler's symphonies in the 1970s and has become one of the foremost Mahler conductors of our time. High Fidelity Magazine named the recording of Mahler's Sixth Symphony by Zander and London's Philharmonia Orchestra as the best classical recording of 2002; the recording of the Third Symphony was awarded 'Critic's Choice' by the German Record Critics; and Zander's recordings of Mahler's Ninth, Mahler's Second, and Bruckner's Fifth were nominated for Grammy Awards.

The concert is preceded by Zander's pre-concert Guide to the Music at 6:45pm. These talks offer an in-depth preview of the music, enabling audience members to gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the pieces.

Program Information
Ives and Mahler
Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
Benjamin Zander, Conductor
Friday, April 26, 2019 at 8:00pm
Symphony Hall | 301 Massachusetts Avenue | Boston, MA 02115

Program:
IVES - Symphony No. 3
MAHLER - Symphony No. 5

Tickets are available by visiting www.bostonphil.org or by calling 617-236-0999.

The Boston Philharmonic, founded by Benjamin Zander in 1979, is comprised of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO), and its robust series of Crescendo Education and Community Engagement programs which impact 2,000 children per week. The mission of the Boston Philharmonic is to share the vibrancy of classical music with new and existing audiences, aspiring to expand the limits of possibility to reinvigorate the classical music experience for audiences and players alike.

As one of Boston's premier orchestras and under the leadership of Maestro Zander, the BPO features professional, student, and amateur musicians who perform inspiring renditions of celebrated masterworks in Boston's most storied concert halls. The BPYO offers year-long orchestral and leadership training at the highest level for talented musicians between the ages of 12 and 21, completely tuition-free. The Crescendo Education and Community Engagement programs provide high quality music education for children who would otherwise not have access, often serving the most disadvantaged, at-risk, and under-resourced children in the city. Maestro Zander's world-renowned master classes on musical interpretation have garnered more than 6 million views.