St. Louis Symphony: Adams and Mahler

ADAMS: Saxophone Concerto
MAHLER: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor

The powerful and pacesetting St. Louis Symphony comes to Berkeley for its first visit, with two programs that showcase the interpretive flexibility and wide expressive range of this brilliant modern orchestra. For program one, Mahler's epic Fifth Symphony wrestles with the potent extremes of love and death, its bombast and tenderness channeling unrest in the composer's private life and in the larger world at the dawn of the 20th century. Composed more than 100 years later, John Adams's exhilarating, jazz-drenched Saxophone Concerto of 2013 features virtuoso saxophonist Tim McAllister.

* Production commissioned by Cal Performances; Los Angeles Philharmonic; St. Louis Symphony; Washington Performing Arts; Sydney Symphony.