RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Jaime Martín conductor
Jennifer Johnston mezzo soprano
Ladies of the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir
RTÉ Cór na nÓg

Mahler Symphony No. 3 / 99’

The beginning of a new chapter for the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and a happy time as the orchestra welcomes back Jaime Martín for his first concert as Chief Conductor.

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times in a recent Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert as “thrilling”, a conductor who “electrifies” and one “dying…to share the joy”, Martín will debut with Gustav Mahler’s magnificent hymn to nature, his Symphony No.3.

A mighty depiction of nature “awakened from mysterious silence into glorious sounds”, it was, the composer declared, “something the world has never heard before”. From the first majestic fanfare on horns and percussion, to the innocent ecstasy of a children’s choir and the hushed holiness of the final movement, the Third Symphony is a monumental, endlessly involving work, shot through with moments of heart-stopping beauty.

An early title for the symphony, Das glückliche Leben (‘The Happy Life’), provides a telling clue to its appeal. Beginning with the Creation and ending in Heaven, it’s a work of deeply-felt emotions and a profound sense of connection with and to the natural world. In our own Extinction Rebellion era, it is also a timely reminder of the quiet majesty of nature and our place in it.

A BBC Music Magazine and Observer ‘Rising star’, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston, the Ladies of the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and the young voices of RTÉ Cór na nÓg share the stage for this wonderful orchestral song of praise to the life-giving and life-sustaining world around us.

Presented by RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra