The Mahler Piano Series features a wide variety of musical styles that influenced Mahler, as well as the bulk of his symphonic music arranged for solo piano.
Acclaimed pianist, composer and arranger Iain Farrington explores the European musical melting pot of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring exceptional singers performing in an intimate salon venue from the period, this is a unique and remarkable exploration of Mahler’s musical world.
Visions of Childhood
In Mahler's Fourth Symphony, the work ends with a song depicting a child's view of Heaven. It was a song Mahler recorded on the piano, and inspired the childlike innocence and optimism of the rest of the Symphony. This concert features music of delicate simplicity that inspired Mahler, including works by Mozart and Schumann, a Jewish klezmer melody and the original 'singspiel' version of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. Tuneful songs by Mahler precede the graceful Fourth Symphony, performed in a suitably intimate piano version.
Iain Farrington (piano)
Iain has an exceptionally busy and diverse career as a pianist, composer and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at Cambridge University. Iain has performed as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician at all the major UK venues, as well as in the USA, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and all across Europe. He performed at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics with Rowan Atkinson, the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle. Iain has worked with many of the country's leading musicians, including Willard White, Lesley Garrett, Paul McCartney and gives frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio Three. He has composed orchestral, choral and instrumental pieces, including several orchestral works for the BBC Proms. Iain has arranged hundreds of works in many styles, including opera, instrumental and choral, African songs, cabaret, klezmer, jazz and pop. His chamber orchestrations of the symphonic repertoire (including much Mahler) are regularly performed around the world, and he has arranged and performed all of Elgar's symphonies on the piano.
Sarah Gabriel (soprano)
Sarah sings music of many different styles spanning 300 years. She made her acclaimed USA debut as Lucy Lockit (Britten's The Beggar’s Opera) conducted by Lorin Maazel, and her European debut as Eliza Doolittle in Robert Carsen’s production of My Fair Lady at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris (for which she was described by Le Monde as ‘as fine an actress as she is a singer’) opposite Alex Jennings. Performances include Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love with Rambert Dance Company, and Webern with London Sinfonietta. She has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, France Musique, RTÉ, NPR, and Radio France. Her first feature film as an actor is Brigitte Rouan’s ‘Tu honoreras ta mère et ta mère’. Her recent projects include new commissions for The London Songbook (fourteen new songs by fourteen composers inspired by the Great American Songbook), Fly Me to the Moon (exploring the music that astronauts have taken to space with author Lucy Hawking), Dorothy Parker Takes a Trip (a solo show premiered at Dartington International Festival), and a new solo show, Lucretia’s Last Breath (a modern masque inspired by Handel’s cantata, La Lucrezia).