---
title: Message from Benjamin Zander about Mahler 1
description: About the BPYO's first concert, the Mahler 1 Symphony, and Stefan Jackiw.
---

[Boston Philharmonic Blog ](https://blog.bostonphil.org)

# [Message from Benjamin Zander about Mahler 1](https://blog.bostonphil.org/2019-zander-message-3)

 Written by [Benjamin Zander](https://blog.bostonphil.org/author/benjamin-zander) | Nov 21, 2019 7:37:38 PM

****

**A Message from Our Music Director  
**

**Mahler Symphony No. 1**

This is the first page of my score of Mahler 1st symphony, which the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra is playing on Sunday afternoon in Symphony Hall.

 

<https://blog.bostonphil.org/hubfs/IMG_0226.jpg>

 

 

It is one of the most intoxicatingly beautiful beginnings of any piece of music ever composed. It opens up a whole world of nature and human experience and brings us into an elevated state that we can only enter through Mahler's music.

 

The players of BPYO adore this music - every note of it! We have worked hard to bring Mahler’s world fully to life. If you are in the Boston area, please come to Symphony Hall in Boston at 3 p.m. on Sunday and enter this world through the artistry of some of the most gifted young musicians in the country. 

 

[Here is BPYO playing the opening 2 minutes.](https://soundcloud.com/boston-philharmonic/mahler-symphony-no-1-bpyo-performance-aprox-2013-shortened) See if you can resist its spell?

 

Violinist [Stefan Jackiw](https://stefanjackiw.com/) will play Mendelssohn - the world’s most popular violin concerto. [Listen to a few bars of him playing the Korngold concerto](https://youtu.be/KPoMZ003UW4) and you will understand why he has become one of the hottest properties on the world’s concert circuit.

 

This is not a concert to miss. The Patriots game will be pallid by comparison.

See you in Symphony Hall on Sunday at 3 p.m.

 

Ben Zander

[View full post](https://blog.bostonphil.org/2019-zander-message-3)

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