About this Event
Mahler: What Nature Tells Me
Tickets - pay-what-you-can (suggested £15) - can also be booked through our website.
Orchestra for the Earth opens its 2026 Alpine Tour with a special London concert at St John’s Waterloo: a programme shaped as a single musical arc through Gustav Mahler’s life and his relationship with the natural world.
The programme brings together songs and symphonic movements from across Mahler’s life, from the freshness and folk-like early music to the exquisite and searching late works, culminating in the final movement of Das Lied von der Erde—Mahler’s great hymn to the natural world. The orchestra is joined by baritone Michael Lafferty, a rising British singer praised for the “melting warmth” of his voice, whose recent appearances include Glyndebourne Festival Opera and English National Opera.
Alongside Mahler, the concert features the world premiere of Eat Your Rage by Zhenyan Li, a London-based composer whose music draws on the storytelling traditions of East Asian theatre and has been performed by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra and Ensemble Modern. Written especially for this tour, her piece offers a contemporary reflection on the same questions that run through Mahler’s music: how we listen to the natural world, and what it means to belong within it.
This concert marks the beginning of Orchestra for the Earth’s annual Alpine Tour, which takes the ensemble to Austria and neighbouring countries to perform Mahler in the landscapes that shaped his imagination. Alongside the concerts, the orchestra works with local schools, inviting children to explore the sounds of their own environment and to create music inspired by what they hear.
The London performance offers a first hearing of the programme before it travels, and a window into the wider project: a meeting of music, place and environmental awareness.
Programme to include:
‘Ging heut Morgen über’s Feld’ (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen)
‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’ and ‘Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft’ (Rückert-Lieder)
Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, including ‘Ablösung im Sommer’
Extracts from Symphony No. 1
Eat Your Rage by Zhenyan Li
‘Der Abschied’ from Das Lied von der Erde
Arranged for chamber orchestra by John Warner.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
St John’s Church, Waterloo, Waterloo Road, London, United Kingdom
GBP 16.96
