The six songs that make up Mahler’s ‘song-symphony’ were inspired by a collection of Chinese poems written between 600 and 700 AD. They deal with the universal and timeless themes of life, love and death and how these are linked to the earth’s beauty and to nature’s cycles of renewal. Filled with sadness and longing, yet ultimately uplifting and achingly beautiful, it is arguably Mahler’s greatest piece.

The exquisite lyricism of Mozart’s 21st piano concerto has resulted in it being used in several films, including Elvira Madigan, from which it derives its byname.

Conductor James Judd, the NZSO’s Music Director Emeritus, conducts extensively in the USA, the UK and Europe and in Asia. Simon O’Neill, one of the world’s finest tenors, is a regular soloist with the world’s most prestigious opera companies and orchestras. Wendy Dawn Thompson trained in Wellington and then London, and has performed with many leading opera companies across the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Benjamin Carter is currently studying piano at Victoria University and has already performed with the NZSO.