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Open Rehearsals - May 10-16
MahlerFest 39 includes many open rehearsals. No need to reserve space or buy a ticket. Just show up!
Click here for a full list. And check back before the festival in case there are any changes.
"Mahler and Leonard Bernstein" - Tuesday, May 12, 4 PM
Presented by Joseph Horowitz
FREE and open to the public
Fraiser Meadows
350 Ponca Place
Horowitz will explore Bernstein's historic act of advocacy and also Bernstein's complicated relationship to Mahler, which was as much about finding Mahler in Bernstein as finding Bernstein in Mahler. The talk will include clips from Bernstein's Mahler documentary "The Little Drummer Boy" (on youtube), in which Bernstein discovers an expression of personal guilt in the Mahler song, but it is Bernstein's guilt, not Mahler's. Bernstein's reading of the end of Mahler 9, the final piece of MahlerFest 39, is highly personal and idiosyncratically dark.
Cello Masterclass with Brinton Smith - Tuesday, May 12, 7 PM
Brinton Smith coaches students on advanced solo cello repetoire during a public masterclass in the historic chapel at the Academy -University Hill. Smith is the principal cellist of the Houston Symphony and a faculty member of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Aspen Music Festival. He is performing the Elgar Cello Concerto at Sunday, May 17.
Click here for more information.
"Tommy and Rock Music’s Ambitious Turn" - Pre-concert talk- Wednesday, May 13, 6:30 PM
John Covach, Director of the University of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music, discusses Tommy's place in music history.
This talk is before London 1969 at the Boulder Theater.
Film - "Mahler in New York" - Thursday, May 14, 2026, 11 AM
Mahler in New York recreates the Manhattan sojourn of this legendary composer/conductor. It is a deep dive into some of the greatest music every created and a heartbreaking love story about two brilliant and incompatible spouses.
Play - "The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York" - Thursday, May 14, 7:30 PM
A fictionalized account of Gustav and Alma's time in New York as told by the couple themselves.
Guided Hike - Friday, May 15, 10:30 AM
Register for this relaxing 90-minute hike of no more than two miles with Boulder naturalist Suzanne Michot and symposium speaker Thomas Peattie.
Click here for more information and to register.
MahlerFest Symposium: Ideas and Insights - May 16, 10 AM - 3:30 PM
The MahlerFest symposium has moved to eTown Hall! We're excited about this new venue.
Pre-concert Discussion with Kenneth Woods - Saturday, May 16, 6:30 PM
Artistic Director Kenneth Woods discusses the pieces being performed at Beethoven's Ninth (Mahler's Version) at Macky Auditorium.
Pre-concert Discussion - "Bernstein and Mahler's 9th" - Sunday, May 17, 2:30 PM
Artistic Director Kenneth Woods and symposium speaker Joseph Horowitz discuss Bernstein and Mahler's 9th prior to Mahler's Ninth at Macky Auditorium.