Two nights with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the works of Gustav Mahler, the only Polish stop on the artists’ European tour, are a dream come true for many music lovers. During their first meeting with the NFM audience, the world-famous orchestra will present Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A minor. The dark masterpiece, intended for a vast number of performers, with a particularly extensive percussion section, will be performed under the baton of the Dutch conductor and violinist Jaap van Zweden.

It is impossible to separate the story of this monumental composition from the person of its author. Mahler is said to have called his four-movement symphony "Tragic", although this subtitle was not included in the score of the piece. When writing it, the symphonic genius was immersed in a premonition of fate and an approaching existential catastrophe, which was reflected in the music. His intuition turned out to be accurate, and the composer’s wife, Alma, even considered that her husband had created a prophetic work. She interpreted the three strikes of a wooden hammer, an unusual instrument introduced by Mahler in the finale, as “three powerful blows of fate to the hero, the third of which fells him like a tree”. Exactly three blows befell their family in 1907 – the year of the composition’s premiere: the couple’s eldest daughter died, Mahler was forced to resign from his position as director of the Vienna State Opera after ten years of tenure, and he was finally diagnosed with an incurable heart condition. It contributed to his death in 1911.

At the time of Mahler’s passing away, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which will perform his Sixth Symphony at the NFM, had already been playing for two decades. It was founded in 1891 and is one of the so-called Big Five American orchestras. It is also regularly mentioned among the best orchestras in the world, famous especially for the sound of the brass section. Visits by the orchestra from Lake Michigan to Poland are rare and a real celebration – suffice it to say that it first performed in our country only in 2014. Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, who will lead the musicians during the Wrocław concerts, began his career as a violinist, becoming the youngest concertmaster in history of the famous Concertgebouworkest. He made his debut as a conductor almost two decades later. From 2018 to 2024, he was the music director of the New York Philharmonic. He currently works with the Korean Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the end of 2026, he is to take over the management of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.