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Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Mahler 6 with Jaap van Zweden
May 8-9, 2025
Overview
The CSO brings the soaring emotional peaks and valleys of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony to Chicago audiences before performing it on Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw stage. The “hammer blows of fate” in the finale seem to foreshadow the tragedies in Mahler’s life, including his own fatal illness. But the symphony brims with life’s pleasures, too, from memories of mountain pastures (listen for the cowbells) to a rapturous portrait of the composer’s wife, Alma.
Program
Mahler
Symphony No. 6
Performers
Extras
Enhance your concert experience.
Preconcert Dining
Enhance your concert experience by dining at the Thomas Club, offering a prix fixe menu featuring traditional American fare for a seamless preconcert dining experience. Reservations | Learn more and view the menu
Preconcert Conversation
Explore the music in a free preconcert conversation featuring Steven Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The talk will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.
Classic Encounter
Thursday, May 8: Preconcert multimedia discussion hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with guest CSO musician.
You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your concert seats.
Sponsors & Partners
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
This performance is sponsored by the Bonnie Ann Barber Endowment Fund, which recognizes the importance of the CSO to Chicago and aims to preserve and support the CSO’s legacy for future generations.
Discover more on Experience CSO
Mahler is one of the specialities of conductor Jaap van Zweden, who asserts: “[There is] a big tradition, I think, in my DNA with the music of Mahler.”
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Bernard Haitink leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s deeply moving Sixth Symphony,
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of five internationally acclaimed ensembles invited to participate in the third-ever Mahler Festival, running May 9-18, 2025, at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
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