The Mahler Piano Series features a wide variety of musical styles that influenced Mahler, as well as the bulk of his symphonic music arranged for solo piano.
Acclaimed pianist, composer and arranger Iain Farrington explores the European musical melting pot of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring exceptional singers performing in an intimate salon venue from the period, this is a unique and remarkable exploration of Mahler’s musical world.
Love and Death
Mahler's Fifth Symphony contains a huge emotional range, from funereal despair to exuberant joy. The main musical influences are explored in this concert, including works by Mendelssohn, Bizet, Bach and a waltz of sequence by one of the most popular songwriters of the day, Thomas Koschat. A number of Mahler's mature songs are performed, inhabiting the same musical world as the Symphony: brutal marches, quiet introspection and a love song to his young wife Alma. Mahler himself recorded the first movement of the Symphony on the piano, and the complete work will be performed in a new piano arrangement.
Iain Farrington (piano)
Iain has an exceptionally busy and diverse career as a pianist, composer and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at Cambridge University. Iain has performed as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician at all the major UK venues, as well as in the USA, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and all across Europe. He performed at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics with Rowan Atkinson, the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle. Iain has worked with many of the country's leading musicians, including Willard White, Lesley Garrett, Paul McCartney and gives frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio Three. He has composed orchestral, choral and instrumental pieces, including several orchestral works for the BBC Proms. Iain has arranged hundreds of works in many styles, including opera, instrumental and choral, African songs, cabaret, klezmer, jazz and pop. His chamber orchestrations of the symphonic repertoire (including much Mahler) are regularly performed around the world, and he has arranged and performed all of Elgar's symphonies on the piano.
Simon Wallfisch (baritone)
Simon is “a multi-talented musician of incredible versatility” (BBC Radio 3), at home on the opera and concert stage. Born in London into a musical family, Simon studied cello, voice and conducting at the Royal College of Music, and subsequently in Berlin, Leipzig and at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House, singing many roles on the main stage. Recent operatic performances include Staatsoper Nürnberg, Teatro Verdi Casciana Terme, National Reis Opera, Holland and English Touring Opera. Simon has broadcast on BBC 2, BBC Radio 3, NDR2, Bayerische Rundfunk, Swiss Radio and France Musique. His unique style of combining cello and voice has brought him to concert halls all over the world, including Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Oxford Lieder Festival, The Purcell Room, Kings Place and the Royal Festival Hall. UK festivals include Leamington, Wimbledon, London Song Schubert Society of Great Britain, Alwyn Festival and abroad in Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Australia and Canada.