Sponsorship
New ways to promote Mahler
In the past GMS UK has supported a number of musical events as part of our commitment to informing and educating audiences about Mahler’s life, music and work. These have included live and online performances by orchestras or individual artists, pre-concert talks and virtual performances of Mahler’s music. As active members of the international Mahler Foundation we have shared virtual events with the world-wide Mahler family, so providing a free promotional platform.
More events are planned for 2024 see our Concerts and Events page
OUR NEXT GMS UK-SPONSORED EVENT:
On Saturday 29 June in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, organist David Briggs will play his own organ transcription of Mahler Symphony no. 3.
Lucie Špičková, contralto. Choirs of adults, children and young people from Merton College, New College School Oxford and St Christopher's Primary School Oxford.
It is one of GMS UK’s priorities to bring Mahler’s work to the attention of new audiences who may not have heard it before. We know from experience that performing a work at a young age can set up a lifelong interest in a composer (and often a lifelong love!) so we send our congratulations to Thomas Neal, Director of Music at New College School Oxford, for putting this event together.
For tickets (including tickets at a special price for GMS UK members - for a limited period only): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mahler-arr-briggs-symphony-no3-tickets-883260354497
GMS UK-SPONSORED WORKSHOP WEEKEND
Congratulations to the Blue Light Symphony Orchestra!
GMS UK was proud to sponsor the orchestra’s Workshop Weekend at the Greycoat Hospital School in Westminster, London on 1st and 2nd June.
This is an amazing voluntary orchestra! The musicians are police officers, firefighters, ambulance personnel, other NHS and medical professionals and a few extra friends. They tell us that this is the world’s only orchestra for all Emergency Services personnel.
Click here to see an extract (on YouTube) from the orchestra’s play-through of the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony no. 5.
Their conductor Seb Valentine tells us:
The Orchestra is very keen to do some more Mahler and so am I. It is an interesting coincidence that I came to this piece at the same time in my life that he wrote it and I certainly understand it in a way I would not have done when I was younger.
Your members may also be interested to know we are doing a concert at St John’s Smith Square on Friday 11 October 2024 at 7.30 pm of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 20 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5. Mahler Society members would be very welcome to come and support the emergency services and enjoy some great music. Tickets will be available from the St John’s website soon.
Betty Makharinsky, soprano and Pavel Timofeyevsky, piano.
Our most recent concert in memory of our late Secretary Sue Johnson (who died suddenly in 2022) was a huge success. From north London in April 2024 we were transported to Mahler’s Vienna.
In the intimate venue ‘The Red Hedgehog’ (named after the Vienna hotel where Brahms ate and drank) our 50-strong audience heard a concert programme that truly enabled our artists to show their sensitivity, their skill as musicians and their knowledge of Mahler’s world.
We heard the Rückert-Lieder, plus Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the Adagietto from Mahler 5 (arr. for piano by Flint). We heard Lieder from two contemporaries of Mahler: his one-time room-mate Hugo Wolf and the younger and less well known Johanna Müller-Hermann, one of a number of significant female figures in Vienna at the time. We heard Four Ballades for piano by Brahms, and Lieder by Schumann and Richard Strauss.
Betty’s and Pavel’s enjoyment of this concert was clearly evident, as was ours! Some of our audience had travelled many miles to join us.
Betty and Pavel are engaging performers who communicate well with their audience, when introducing and when performing the works. Betty’s interpretations showed sincerity as we saw a full range of emotions - sad or bright, resigned or spirited, flirtatious or enamoured, never cloying. Betty is a classical soprano, educator and producer.
Pavel is a skilled accompanist, a highly experienced solo performer, a composer, arranger and lecturer. As his family had known our late Secretary Sue Johnson for many years, Pavel was glad to have this concert dedicated to her memory as she was “a very dear and very special friend”.
GMS UK is proud to have presented this concert as part of our programme of supporting young professional musicians.
Chineke! Orchestra at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, 3 May 2024.
This is not Mahler, so why are we including it? (Apart from the fact that Chineke! Orchestra is a first-class orchestra that always presents a refreshing combination of familiar works, contemporary pieces and some long-hidden works by composers of colour).
In this concert, Zwakele Tshabalala was the tenor soloist in the Requiem by Nunes García (1767-1830). Zwakele is a friend of GMS UK, as he performed at our 2023 concert 'The Delphine Trio and Friends', singing Mahler's Rückert-Lieder in an arrangement for violin, piano, clarinet and cello (arr Temmingh). Hearing Zwakele’s voice was a joy, both at our own 2023 concert and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall performance.
As for the orchestra, it seems to reach new heights with every concert. On a previous occasion the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony was stunning. This time they played Berlioz's Mort de Cléopatra plus the UK premiere of a new work by Stewart Goodyear (with hints of Bernstein's West Side Story plus a little Mahler and Berlioz), and a Requiem for the Queen of Portugal from the 18th century Brazilian composer Nunes García, which had more than a hint of Mozart's Requiem.
We are looking forward to the day when the orchestra will perform Mahler, so fingers crossed!
Previous sponsorship by GMS UK has included support for:
2023
GMS UK presented The Delphine Trio and Friends in a superb live concert of arrangements of Mahler, Zemlinksy and Beethoven, with Roelof Temmingh on piano, Magdalenna Krstevska clarinet, Maja Horvat violin, Jobine Siekman cello and Zwakele Tshabalala tenor.
A performance of Mahler Symphony no 2, the final concert in the Classical Sheffield series given by Hallam Sinfonia, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Hallam Choral Society conducted by George Morton with soprano Ella Taylor and mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey.
A study day given by our Vice President Gavin Plumley, the well known broadcaster and cultural historian, on Mahler Symphony no. 5, referring to the cultural, socio-political, musical and personal context of the period when Mahler composed the symphony.
CD recording by Claudia Huckle contralto, Nicky Spence tenor and Justin Brown piano of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde on Champs Hill Records
2022
November - A concert by Sutton Symphony Orchestra of Mahler Symphony no. 5
February - A concert by The Chess Players, Rickmansworth of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 in Miniature arranged by Klaus Simon.
February - Conducting workshops in Monmouth, Wales, by the English Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Simon, focusing on Mahler’s Symphony no. 5.
March - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Concert at the Royal Festival Hall of Mahler's 4th Symphony, conducted by Adam Fischer.
March - Henley Symphony Orchestra. Concert at the Hexagon, Reading, including Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
June - The Mahler Players. Two concerts in the Inverness area of a new chamber arrangement of Mahler’s Symphony no 7.
November - Sutton Symphony Orchestra. Concert at St Andrews United Reformed Church, Cheam, Surrey, including Mahler’s Symphony no. 5.
2021
Ensemble Cambrica, a chamber orchestra in South Wales, performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 arranged for 14 instruments by Klaus Simon, conducted by Jonathan Mann with soprano Justine Viani.
Youtube performance by Charlotte Hoather and George Todica of Lieder by Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler and Franz Schubert. (See the video on our Media / Video page).
You tube performance by Caitlin Hulcup mezzo soprano, Florian Thomas tenor and Carston Becke piano, of ‘A Socially Distanced Knaben Wunderhorn’. (See the videos on our Media / Video page).
The Orchestra of the Earth's Alpine tour performing Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in a chamber arrangement.
The Fifth Door Ensemble’s performance of 'Das Lied von der Erde' in Schoenberg's arrangement for chamber ensemble, at Holland Park Opera.
2020
You-tube recording of Mahler Symphony No. 3 by the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Youtube video recital of Mahler Lieder by baritone Simon Wallfisch and pianist Iain Farrington. (See the video on our Media / Video page).
Youtube video recital of Mahler Lieder given by Florian Thomas tenor and Caitlin Hulcup mezzo soprano.
The International Mahler Foundation’s art films about Gustav Mahler, produced by the composer’s granddaughter Marina Mahler.
2019
Ealing Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony no. 10.
Orchestra for Earth’s performance of Mahler’s Der Einsame in Herbst, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen and second Nachtmusik from 7th Symphony as part of their annual Alpine tour.
Redhill Sinfonia’s concert in March 2020 (sadly cancelled) for a Mahler symphony.
2018
GMS UK North and Midlands Study Day in Manchester.
North Norfolk Sinfonia’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
Orchestra for the Earth’s performance of Mahler’s ymphony No. 4 as part of their annual Alpine Tour.
GMS UK North and Midlands Study Day in Birmingham.
2017
Oxford Lieder Festival in October
Performance of a Mahler Symphony at the St Marylebone Music Festival, conducted by Bertie Baigent.
St Peter’s Chamber Orchestra Oxford, performance of Mahler’s Symphony no. 9.