Madison Symphony's John DeMain Continues Mahler Cycle

The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) presents the continuation of John DeMain's acclaimed Mahler cycle, bringing the composer's powerful Symphony No. 9 to Overture Hall this February. These concerts also mark the return of celebrated cellist Lynn Harrell for Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 2, a Romantic gem.

The concerts take place Friday, February 9 at 7:30 PM; Saturday, February 10 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, February 11 at 2:30 PM in Overture Hall, 201 State Street. Single tickets are $12-$68 plus a $3 per ticket Overture Center facility fee.

Senior citizens aged 62 or older, full-time students and groups also receive discounts, and the popular $11 student rush (students of all ages are welcome to two tickets at $11 each!) now includes all three performances. Discounts cannot be combined.

Dynamic Duos (buy one ticket at regular price and one to a future performance at 50% off) and Friends
Fourpacks (four tickets at an incredible 40% off!) are also available for these concerts. Visit madisonsymphony.org/tickets for details. Mahler's ninth symphony is a masterpiece of emotional power, a colossal work played by an expanded orchestra.

As John DeMain said, "Above all else, this is a symphony of great beauty. For those who have followed the cycle, it will be a great culmination." Mahler's last completed symphony-his tenth is a fragment-was written under the "death sentence" of his diagnosis of heart disease, shortly after the death of his eldest daughter.

Mahler's ninth joined a pantheon of other "fateful ninths" that sounded the death knell for their composers, among them, Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. Mahler did not live to hear his close friend, Bruno Walter, conduct the premiere of the symphony in 1912. Walter said, "A peaceful farewell; with the conclusion, the clouds dissolve into the blue of Heaven."

Before intermission, renowned cellist Lynn Harrell-returning to the MSO stage for the fifth time-performs Victor Herbert's Romantic Cello Concerto No. 2. The premiere of this work was enthusiastically embraced by critic, composer and conductor Antonín Dvoøák, and it is said to be the inspiration for Dvoøák's own cello concerto.

It is difficult to remember a time when Lynn Harrell was not a consummate performer and pedagogue. He is a frequent guest of the great orchestras of the world and he recently appeared with the New York Philharmonic performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist André Previn. There is an immediacy and intimacy about his playing that The Boston Globe best described: ""¦Harrell embraced us and didn't put us down"¦his playing was bold, imaginative, and surpassingly sensitive."

By www.madisonsymphony.org