London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas

Mozart Violin Concerto No 5 (‘Turkish’)
Mahler Symphony No 5

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor
Gil Shaham violin
London Symphony Orchestra

Mozart’s experimental Fifth Violin Concerto intersperses lyrical operatic passages with the loud, tongue-in-cheek bursts of traditional Turkish music which have lent the concerto its ‘Turkish’ nickname. Conductor Herbert von Karajan said that when listening to the haunting beauty of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 ‘you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath’.

Pre-concert performance
Guildhall Artists at the Barbican
6–6.45pm, Barbican Hall
Free entry
Mozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano performed by Bartosz Woroch (violin) and Jean-Selim Abdelmoula (piano)