Masterworks: Mahler: A View of Heaven

Peter Oundjian, conductor | James Ehnes, violin | Laquita Mitchell, soprano
Sibelius – Violin Concerto
Mahler – Symphony No. 4
2 hours. Includes intermission.

Internationally celebrated violinist James Ehnes, “a violinist in a class of his own” (The Times), returns to perform Sibelius’s celebrated Violin Concerto. Emotionally riveting and breathlessly virtuosic, the concerto is the perfect vehicle for Ehnes’ musicality and flawless technique. Setting the stage for – one can only hope – more Mahler to come, the orchestra performs Mahler’s expansive Fourth Symphony. Mahler compared his work to being “seized with panic and terror” on “the most beautiful day in a sunlit forest.” Laquita Mitchell wields her lustrous voice in the work’s concluding song, a view of heaven through a child’s eyes.