A celebratory performance of Mahler’s spectacular symphony, an incomparable musical homage to nature and humanity, with star soloists Alice Coote and Andrew Staples.

This compelling programme opens with ‘the calm before the storm’: Lili Boulanger’s work evokes the promise of a glorious spring morning. Then Aurora unleashes an explosion of Baroque virtuosity with Jean Rebel’s 1738 depiction of Chaos and the creation: the ‘confusion which reigned between the Elements before the instant when, subject to invariable laws, they took their prescribed place in the order of nature’.

Mahler’s ‘Song of the Earth’ is one of his most profoundly moving works. Having explored life and its meaning through ancient Chinese poetry, Mahler ends on a final note of acceptance: that death comes to us all.

As part of its 20th-anniversary celebrations at Snape Maltings, Aurora performs the work in Iain Farrington’s sparkling chamber-orchestra version, alongside two of the leading Mahler singers of our time.

Aurora Orchestra
Alice Coote mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples tenor
Nicholas Collon conductor