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Details
St John's Church
73 Waterloo Road
Waterloo
London
SE1 8TY
England
Tickets
Prices: Pay-what-you-can (suggested £15)
Book Tickets
Programme
Gustav Mahler – Song selections and symphonic extracts
Zhenyan Li – Eat Your Rage (World Première)
Performers
John Warner – Conductor
Michael Lafferty – baritone
Programme Note
Tickets pay-what-you-can (suggested £15)
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 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
New commission by Zhenyan Li
‘Der Abschied’ from Das Lied von der Erde
Arranged for chamber orchestra by John Warner.
