The Hallé - Finale: Sir Mark conducts Mahler 5

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For Sir Mark’s finale as Hallé Music Director, a musical coup! A new choral work specially composed by Sir James MacMillan, one of the UK’s highest profile composers on the world stage.

‘What I wanted’, says Sir Mark, ‘was a work that would involve different strands of the Hallé choral family’. MacMillan’s whole-hearted response is his Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia, setting three sections of John Dryden’s great poem from 1697 in celebration of St Cecilia’s Day, ‘Alexander’s Feast: Or The Power of Music’. In Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, the composer takes us on a journey from heavy tragedy to brilliant optimism. By choosing it for his bowing out, Sir Mark wishes to showcase the qualities of the Hallé – ‘their ‘fighting spirit, joie de vivre, determination and commitment to their music-making.’