SAWYERS Symphony No. 5 (2021) – WORLD PREMIERE

MAHLER Symphony No. 5 (1902)

The Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra with Artistic Director Kenneth Woods returns to the Macky stage for the first time in 27 months. Mahler’s fifth symphony, composed in 1901-02, is one of Mahler’s most famous and features the “Adagietto” movement. This famous movement, used in over a dozen films incluing Death in Venice, was a love letter to Alma Schindler, whom he met after beginning work on the symphony and married in early 1902 before the symphony was completed later that summer. The concert will also include the world premiere of a new symphony written during the pandemic by leading British symphonist, Philip Sawyers. Sawyers is the visiting composer of this year’s festival after having been scheduled for the canceled 2020 festival.