As QSO’s new Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici knows, Mahler cycles are big business in the orchestral world, and particularly for their ability to get bums on seats.

In the promo for this concert, Clerici says that “every new Chief Conductor starts a Mahler cycle but few make it beyond his Fourth or Fifth Symphony. So I decided to continue a cycle started by Alondra de la Parra in 2016: we will restart from Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, the Tragic, and continue this journey in years to come.”

This, I think, is an eminently sensible decision (and what a pity that we didn’t get to hear more of de la Parra with QSO – she was a powerful, gutsy conductor), and one that allows Clerici to leapfrog the probably slightly overplayed Symphony No. 1, for instance, and get into the intensities of No. 6, the Tragic.

Clerici Conducts Mahler. Photo supplied

The concert began with QSO’s chief executive Yarmila Alfonzetti talking about their 2024 season, and Clerici’s enthusiasm is, as always, infectious. There are some really genuinely unusual things coming up. For my money, the John Luther Adams next year is going...