Mozart. Mahler

The first half of the evening is dedicated to Mozart in his deepest and most profound dimension. The program opens with the Overture to Don Giovanni, carrying a particular sense of poignancy. Legend has it that Mozart composed this music on the very night before the premiere; the copyists barely managed to finish the parts for the orchestra by the start of the performance, and the musicians played the piece without a single rehearsal. This is why those opening chords resonate not with cold calculation, but with the nervous pulse of a genius working at the edge of the possible—a state that, ultimately, was nothing new for him.

The overture will be followed by Piano Concerto No. 20, one of the composer’s few minor-key concertos. It harmoniously blends the inner agitation of the first movement, the transparent restraint of the second, and the energetic tension of the finale. This is not the "festive" Mozart, but rather one who is focused and intensely candid.

The second half features Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. This early work already fully demonstrates the composer's monumental scale of thought. It contains everything characteristic of Mahler: a quiet opening beginning from a barely audible sound, echoes of folk melodies, a touch of irony in the third movement, and a finale that rings out as a powerful and confident affirmation of life.

We invite the audience to experience this music as an act of deep listening—delving into the tense clarity of Mozart and the vast symphonic breath of Mahler, both affirming the power of life in all its complexity.