Mahler’s Inner Circle

Uncovering stellar selections by Gustav Mahler’s wife, his rival, and his ill-fated friend

What’s Interesting About This Concert

  • Alexander Zemlinsky fell in love with his composition student Alma Schindler, but she rejected him and married Gustav Mahler. Lustspiel Overture’s lush melodies echo those of Brahms, who was a supporter of the young Zemlinsky.
  • Alma Schindler was an accomplished composer before she gave it up to marry Gustav Mahler. Within a few years, unfulfilled and depressed, she had an affair, which prompted Gustav to take Alma’s musical ambitions more seriously. These five songs were the only works by Alma Mahler to be published in her husband’s lifetime.
  • Hans Rott and Gustav Mahler were classmates and roommates in late 1870s Vienna but their fortunes diverged soon after, and Rott died in an asylum at age 25. Rott’s one and only completed symphony—receiving its California premiere here—bears many similarities to Mahler’s works, and scholars are only now uncovering Rott’s enormous influence on his celebrated friend.

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Making Concerts Fun

This isn’t your grandma’s orchestra! We like to do things a little differently...

  • Free pre-concert talk with Maestro Cabrera begins an hour before the show
  • Bring your drinks to your seats
  • Phones on and silent allowed
  • Clap when you like what you hear

The Program

ZemlinskyLustspiel Overture

Alma MahlerFive Songs

RottSymphony No. 1

Show Support By

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