Mahler's SYMPHONY NO. 8 to Open at Roy Thompson Hall with 550+ Performers

Mandle Cheung will conduct Mahler's Symphony No. 8 at Roy Thomson Hall on November 27, 2026, marking his debut leading Mahler's largest work with his Mandle Philharmonic Orchestra. The performance will bring together more than 550 artists, including more than 107 orchestral musicians, an adult choir of around 350, a 100-strong children's choir, eight soloists and conductor. This will be Toronto's first performance of the rarely-mounted 'Symphony Of A Thousand' in 14 years, and Canada's first in nine years.

Cheung, who spent most of his life in the tech and telecoms industry and only came to conducting later in life, has previously performed works by Beethoven, Brahms, Orff, Liszt and Mahler. He has made a particular specialty of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, having performed it with the Mandle Phil, Toronto Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, most recently with the RPO at London's Alexandra Palace, and with the Mandle Phil in Toronto's RBC Amphitheatre. In all, he has performed Mahler's symphonies nos. 1, 2 and 4, and now 8 will join that list.

'The experience of any Mahler symphony is exceptionally intense,' says Mandle Cheung, 'but if the Second Symphony is his Everest, the Eighth is like crossing the entire Himalayas! It is huge, wonderful, spectacular, it demands everything from you and it gives everything to you. And it isn't called the 'Symphony of a Thousand' for nothing! Even if we won't have a thousand performers, we'll have more than five hundred and fifty, throwing themselves into Mahler's incredible sound-world; that's something you only get a handful of chances to see and hear in your life, if you're lucky.

'I and the Mandle Phil are so very proud to be bringing this incredible experience to Toronto. Not many cities even get to host a Mahler 8, across decades. Some never do. It's going to be unforgettable.'

At 2,600 seats, the Roy Thomson Hall is one of Canada's largest auditoria. The eight solo singers will include Lauren Margison (soprano), Simona Genga and Hillary Tufford (altos) and Jesse Blumberg (baritone), with others yet to be announced.

So difficult is this symphony to mount, it has not been heard in Toronto for 14 years, since the Toronto Symphony Orchestra played it in June 2012. The last time it was staged in the whole of Canada was nine years ago, when the Montreal Symphony Orchestra performed it in 2017.

Despite the fact that he has been conducting, mostly sold-out, concerts for some eight years — the Mandle Phil gave its first public performances in 2018, after a significant period during which Cheung conducted them in private, learning his craft — there has sometimes been controversy at 'a self-taught tech guy' presuming to conduct established orchestras, yet reviews have been good, and ovations prolonged.

Cheung's Mahler 2 with the Toronto Symphony had a

of more than four minutes, and a review in Canada's The Globe And Mail attested to a four-minute ovation. 'I don't think I've ever sat in a concert with so many tears flooding down my face,' continued the review, 'The successful completion of Cheung's ordeal is news. A beautiful experience…superb affirmation.' Similarly, the same work with the RPO in London also had a four-minute-plus standing ovation, and Colin Clarke's review in Seen And Heard International noted, 'An impressive feat...use of string portamento was revelatory...lovely lyricism...daring pauses...The close was indeed rousing, a sonic spiritual challenge that found Cheung marshalling his forces with authority.'

The Details

Date: Friday, November 27, 2026

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto

Tickets: https://roythomsonhall.mhrth.com/tickets/mandle-philharmonic/

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