This month, Andris Nelsons returns to the Salzburg Festival to conduct Mahler’s colossal Third Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic on August 7 & 8. Featuring the renowned contralto Violeta Urmana, in addition to the Vienna Philharmonic, Nelsons leads the Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor and the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks in this sunny work that Mahler called “one great hymn to the glory of every aspect of creation.”

Nelsons garnered critical acclaim for his performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2018, with Boston Classical Review praising “As is often the case with Nelsons’ performances of large-scale works, details were aplenty, but the conductor led with a firm sense of the piece’s architecture. The first movement was a journey from darkness to light. Its opening statements had the same biting intensity that Shostakovich would later mine in his own symphonies, and the burbling second theme flowered beautifully in the winds and strings. The march had a touch of sarcasm before swelling to boisterous heights.”

Photo: Marco Borggreve