Mahler Academy Orchestra

About

The Mahler Academy Orchestra brings together musicians from the celebrated Mahler Chamber Orchestra and a generation of younger players, creating an ensemble with both deep experience and fresh energy. Based in Bolzano, the orchestra works in the symphonic and orchestral tradition, with a particular focus on authentic period instruments, the kind Mahler himself would have known. That approach shapes everything about how they sound: the goal is a performance that feels like a first hearing, immediate and alive rather than polished and predictable. Conductor Philipp von Steinaecker has been central to the orchestra's recent work, leading them through Mahler's Fifth Symphony to considerable acclaim. Their programming gravitates toward Mahler's major symphonies, treating each one as its own world. The Ninth Symphony, which the ensemble has taken on as a centrepiece, is among the most demanding works in the repertoire, a score that moves between resignation and something close to transcendence.