The Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra travelled to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for the fifth stop in their ten-concert Summer 2026 tour. After nearly two weeks of intensive rehearsals with their new assistant conductor, Henry Kennedy preparing Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste, and Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, plus an extensive chamber music programme, Tuesday night saw Philippe Jordan return to the podium for his sixth tour with these talented young musicians conducting Mahler’s Seventh Symphony.
The programme
Founded by Claudio Abbado in 1986/87, the GMYO is one of many such orchestras dedicated to preparing young musicians for a future life in the profession. Members aged between 18 & 28 come together two or three times a year for music-making alongside a dazzling array of top musicians. Their alumni list reads like a veritable Who’s Who of the classical music world.
Mahler’s Seventh Symphony
From the out, a defiant tenor horn solo set the tone. And despite a generally nervy start, a pure and beautifully centred trumpet fanfare appeared to calm the fray. Perfectly matched woodwind colours, clearly crafted over many hours in the rehearsal room, passed around before the harp’s glissando beckoned those on stage to ascend heaven’s stairs.
Nerves continued as one of the most famous solos in the horn repertoire (used to great effect in the iconic 1982 Castrol GTX advert) stuttered slightly. The tuba, obviously referencing a misspent youth watching old YouTube videos, had the perfect response. In turn, distant alpine cowbells and perfectly synced oboes and piccolo beckoned in the wonderful stillness of Mahler’s first Nachtmusik.
But again, despite a daring viola solo, the direction of travel appeared to falter. The Scherzo’s path ahead felt uncertain. Even the climaxes felt oddly subdued.
Only when a quivering mandolin and guitar transported us to Mahler’s second edition of his Nachtmusik did a much more confident world emerge. Vivid storytelling full of charming, mysterious mysticism filled the hall.
Imagery abounded as rustic, swashbuckling violas incited lonesome village boys to cast off their inhibitions for some frolicking in the fields. Bombastic brass, woodwind bells aloft and rumbling drums reminded all of trouble ahead as Jordan finally whipped Mahler’s fabulous score to an exciting finale.
No encore tonight. But you can catch them later in the season on tour in Italy and Spain with Cristian Mãcelaru and Julia Hagen.
This concert was reviewed at the Concertgebouw on Tuesday 25th August, 2026
Mahler 7 and the Amsterdam connection
As is often the case with Mahler’s music, you can find historical connections at every turn. Mahler found inspiration for the work in Rembrandt’s picture, The Night Watch, hanging across the road in the Rijksmuseum. His portrayal of a nocturnal march and effective use of light and shade is used to great effect in the two Nachtmusik. Mahler conducted the Dutch premiere in The Hague on October 2nd , 1909 plus two performances in the Concertgebouw. At the first Mahler Festival in 1920, Alma Mahler subsequently gifted the manuscript to the chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, William Mengelberg. It formed the focal point of a Rijksmuseum exhibition during the 2025 Mahler Festival, sitting alongside portraits of Mahler.
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