To celebrate the reopening of the Concert Hall, and a season of new beginnings, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra turn to Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony with new Chief Conductor, Simone Young. Mahler worked on this symphony in Hamburg as musical director for the Hamburg State Opera – the same company for which Simone Young recently held the same position. Popularly known as the Resurrection Symphony, it’s one of Mahler’s best known and most celebrated. A powerful, soul-shaking landscape of sound. A passionate and expansive journey that would eventually, in Mahler’s words, raise “to the highest heights.”

It’s a major endeavour and Mahler’s extraordinary use of voice adds an emotional intensity to the experience that delivers on his intentions. This is the perfect work to mark the Sydney Symphony’s return to one of the world’s most famous concert halls.

An exciting new work from First Nations composer William Barton also marks the spirit of the occasion and the site of the celebration.

Presented by Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Recorded by the ABC at Sydney Opera House, Thursday 21 July 2022.

Programme
WILLIAM BARTON Of the Earth
Fifty Fanfares Commission
MAHLER Symphony No.2, Resurrection

Artists
Simone Young conductor
Nicole Car soprano
Deborah Humble mezzo-soprano
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
The Sydney Children’s Choir
Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir