On August 9 and 10, Andris Nelsons resumes his collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic, where he has been a frequent guest conductor, appearing with the orchestra at the esteemed Salzburg Festival. The orchestra will play a thrilling program, opening with the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp major. It’s one of the most poignant and emotionally charged movements the composer ever wrote; especially haunting because it was the last music he fully completed before his death in 1911.

The centerpiece of the program is Shostakovich’s powerful and politically-charged Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93. Written shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, it is one of Shostakovich’s most performed and highly regarded symphonies, blending personal expression with coded political commentary. Nelsons is known for his Shostakovich, and recently released a box set of the composer’s complete symphonies with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, marking the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1975.