Gustav Mahler Orchestra to join Abu Dhabi Classics

Emirates Business

The Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, one of the leading young musical ensembles in the world, will perform two concerts this week at two stunning locations in Abu Dhabi as part of the emirate’s Abu Dhabi Classics international concert season.
The orchestra, based in Vienna, Austria and founded in 1986, comprises 120 musicians, last week made its debut appearance in the emirate with a concert titled ‘Universal Expressions: Celebrating Louvre Abu’ which took place at the Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island with music inspired by the new museum and containing two world premiere commissions.
Founded by one of the most prominent conductors of the past decades, the late Claudio Abbado, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra is one of the world’s most prestigious youth orchestras, performing at major venues and festivals with leading conductors and soloists such as Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi and Philippe Jordan.
The first concert on Thursday March 24 with conductor David Afkham and celebrated German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann is a performance titled ‘A Night of Heroes in Al Ain’ at the spectacular Al Jahili Fort featuring music from Beethoven’s majestic 3rd Symphony.
The second concert on Sunday March 26 will be held at Emirates Palace Auditorium. The first part of the concert will feature Frank Zimmermann in Béla Bartók’s emotional Violin Concerto No. 1, written in 1907-08 and dedicated to the violinist Stefi Geyer. Following its tradition to tackle some of the leading repertoire of the Romantic age, the orchestra under the baton of David Afkham will then in the second part of the evening play one of the most iconic and popular pieces of music ever written: Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
Sara Alshakar from TCA Abu Dhabi said: “After the triumphant concert at the Louvre last week, we are looking forward to two more performances by the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. The programme is truly exciting with two of the most popular symphonies ever written, the 3rd and the 5th by Beethoven and the innovative and touching Violin Concertos 1 and 2 by Béla Bartók’s. It is again an invitation for everyone to enjoy classical music. Both Beethoven symphonies are iconic and offer an immense listening experience both to regular concertgoers and to those who step into a concert hall for the first time”
Abu Dhabi Classics is part of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority’s (TCA Abu Dhabi) Music Programme and has been designed to offer world-class classical music at venues across the emirate durig a nine-month-long season. The season runs from September until May 2016 and brings some of the world’s best classical performers and orchestras to the emirate at a variety of locations including the cultural hub of Saadiyat Island and the historic Al Jahili Fort in the Abu Dhabi’s heritage heartland of Al Ain.