It’s 1969 and veteran composer Franz Josef Haydn is making his first trip to London where he is swept up in the dizzying world of The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, and Hendrix, many of whom had grown up idealizing this early work in Esterhazy in the 1950s, much as they had Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker in America.

All of London’s hippest gather for the premier of Haydn’s London Symphony at the Hammersmith Odeon (aka Boulder Theatre) but Haydn is there for the premiere of the first rock opera, "Tommy," by Who's Mahler.

• HAYDN | Symphony No. 104 in D-major
• THE WHO | Tommy

MahlerFest Chamber Orchestra 
Kenneth Woods, Conductor

Who's Mahler
Kenneth Woods, Guitars & Vocals
Tony Escueta, Keyboards & Vocals
Sean Flora, Bass & Vocals
Brad Harner, Drums & Vocals
TBD, Singers

In the summer of 1901, Mahler's health crisis inevitably led him to think about his own mortality. This was one of his most prolific summers during which he composed several songs with texts from Friedrich Rückert's Kinderotenlieder. Mahler quotes from one of these songs on the final page of his Ninth Symhony. Mahler's wife, Alma, has not pleased at the subject matter, “For Heaven’s sake, don’t tempt Providence!” On this program we also offer the Clarinet Trio by Alexander Zemlinksy who was once in love with Alma Schindler, the future Alma Mahler. 

• ZEMLINSKY | Clarinet Trio in d-minor, Op. 3, for Piano, Clarinet, & Cello
• MAHLER | Kindertotenleider

Jennifer Hayghe, Piano
Andrew Konopak, Baritone
Daniel Silver, Clarinet
Parry Karp, Cello

At the age of 47, Mahler started over in New York City, first conducting the Metropolitan Opera and then the New York Philharmonic (the only North American organization other than MahlerFest to receive the International Gustav Mahler Society's Gold Medal). Joseph Horowitz wrote a fictionalized book about Alma and Gustav's time in New York which is now a play.

• HOROWITZ | The Mahlers in NY – non-staged reading

Joseph Horowitz, Gustav Mahler
Jack Tamburri, Director
TBD, Alma Mahler

An eclectic evening of chamber music with traditional string quartet, a rock band, and more. Janáček's Second String Quartet is about meeting the woman who reignited his creativity. The program also includes a new arrangement of Mahler's Wayferer Songs for viola and folk band featuring Lauren Spaulding, our principal violist who is currently nominated for a Grammy award. 

• WOODS | The Voyage
• BEETHOVEN | String Quartet, No. 15 in a-minor, Op. 132
       III. Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der Lydischen Tonart (Holy Song of Thanksgiving of a Convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode)
• MAHLER | Wayfarer Songs, arr. for Viola and Guitar
• JANÁČEK | String Quartet No. 2, “Intimate Letters”
• WOODS | Gather the Ghosts and Bones
• THE WHO/TOWNSHEND | Won’t Get Fooled Again 

Lauren Spaulding, Viola
Other chamber musicians TBD

Ken Woods and the Electric Liederländlers
Kenneth Woods, Conductor, Guitars, and Vocals
Tony Escueta, Keyboards & Vocals
Sean Flora, Bass & Vocals
Brad Harner, Drums & Vocals

Mahler scholars and MahlerFest Guest Artists offer talks on topics related to this season's theme.

• Joseph Horowitz
• Other Speakers TBD
  
  

As a conductor, Mahler premiered many new works that are now standard concert pieces. In his scores of famous works, like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, he made alterations to adjust for modern instruments and concert halls as well as his performance style. In this program we honor Mahler the conductor with a chance to hear Mahler's editition of that famous Beethoven symphony alongside the world premiere of Symphony No. 11 by Steve Elcock, a British composer who resides in France.

6:30 PM | Pre-concert talk TBD

• BACH/Arr. By ELGAR | Fantasia & Fugue in c-minor, BWV 537
• ELCOCK | Symphony No. 11 - WORLD PREMIERE – Sponsored by the Burton Commissioning Fund
• BEETHOVEN/Arr. MAHLER | Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

MahlerFest OrchestraKenneth Woods, ConductorBoulder Concert Chorale – Dr. Vicki Burrichter, Artistic DirectorHannah Benson, AltoApril Fredrick, SopranoBrennen Guillory, TenorAndrew Konopak, Bass

Mahler did not know he would not live to the age of 50 when he composed Symphony No. 9. Many have espoused that every bar is filled with a sense of foreboding and despair, but Mahler's dualism is ever-present. When he's happy, he's sad. When he's tragic, he's hopeful. We open the concert with Brinton Smith performing Elgar's Cello Concerto, the masterpiece which was Elgars new chapter after the end of World War I.

2:30 PM | Pre-concert talk on Bernstein and Mahler 9 with Kenneth Woods and Joseph Horowitz

•  ELGAR | Cello Concerto – Sponsored by Joan Cleland
• MAHLER | Symphony No. 9

MahlerFest Orchestra
Kenneth Woods, Conductor
Brinton Smith, Cello