Download the program book for this concert. 

Recorded Live at Symphony Hall on March 2nd, 2025.
Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
Benjamin Zander, conductor

If there were yearbooks for musical compositions it is likely that the Mahler Sixth would be voted “Symphony least likely to be performed by a youth orchestra.” The tragic weight of this work is devastating and inescapable. The difficulties of its performance—technical, interpretive, emotional, even logistical—are legendary, and for many decades were responsible for the work’s not being performed at all.

Concert Reviews

Zander and the BPYO: Knockout Mahler 6

Zander, Boston Phil Youths find triumph in the tragedy of Mahler’s Sixth

Pre-concert Lecture by Benjamin Zander