Classical Music

Australian World Orchestra: Mahler 4 & 5
Artistic Director Alexander Briger takes the podium for AWO’s Mahlerfest – a rare opportunity to hear Mahler’s radiant Fourth and monumental Fifth Symphonies back to back. Soprano Sarah Traubel sings the finale of the Fourth, Das himmlische Leben – a child’s vision of heaven, first intended for Mahler’s Third Symphony and originally composed as a setting for one of the folk poems in his Des Knaben Wunderhorn song cycle. The journey ends in the Fifth’s Adagietto, Mahler’s love letter to his future wife Alma.
3 September, Arts Centre Melbourne; 4 September, Sydney Opera House; australianworldorchestra.com.au

Australian Chamber Orchestra: A Musical Awakening
Directed by ACO Principal Cello Timo-Veikko Valve, this soul-stirring concert explores music’s power to console, uplift and renew. Recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey joins the ACO for the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang’s flute and echo. Spanning 900 years, the program moves from Hildegard von Bingen’s 12th-century...