In partnership with Fidelio and The Barbican
A pre-concert conversation with Raffaello Morales, Edward Seckerson and Anthony Freud OBE.
Followed by a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 by Fidelio Orchestra, conducted by Raffaello Morales.
Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is often known as the “Tragic”. Yet it was composed during one of the happiest periods of the composer’s life. Why, then, did Mahler return so insistently to questions of suffering, fate and loss? And what can his music teach us about how we confront tragedy?
Before Fidelio Orchestra’s performance of this extraordinary work, join Mahler experts Raffaello Morales and Edward Seckerson for a conversation chaired by Anthony Freud exploring the power of art to illuminate life’s darkest experiences.
Born into a Jewish family in nineteenth-century Bohemia and living in a Europe marked by social and cultural upheaval, Mahler wrestled throughout his life with questions of identity, belonging, faith and meaning. These concerns find powerful expression in his music, which moves between hope and despair, tenderness and violence, transcendence and catastrophe.
Taking Mahler’s Sixth Symphony as a starting point, this discussion will explore how artists respond to suffering, whether tragedy can deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world, and why Mahler’s vision continues to resonate so strongly in our own uncertain times.
The Evening
5.45pm
Doors open
6.00–7.00pm
Pre-concert conversation and audience Q&A
7.30pm
Fidelio Orchestra performs Mahler: Symphony No. 6
