What about the music?
An inside look with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Opening Weekend:
Mahler’s Titan Symphony
with Eric Jacobsen
September 10, 2026 | 7:30PM | CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Performing Arts, Newport News – Get Tickets
September 13, 2026 | 2:30PM | Sandler Center or the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach – Get Tickets
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Gabriel Kahane: Heirloom Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1, “Titan”
By Stella Feliberti
The Performers
conductor
Eric Jacobsen
Already well-established as one of classical music’s most exciting and innovative young conductors, Eric Jacobsen combines fresh interpretations of the traditional canon with cutting-edge collaborations across musical genres. Hailed by the New York Times as “an interpretive dynamo,” Eric, as both a conductor and a cellist, has built a reputation for engaging audiences with innovative and collaborative programming.
Eric joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as Music Director in 2021, being named the twelfth music director in the orchestra’s 100+ year history. Current and recent projects include recording projects of Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor with Gil Shaham and Rhapsody in Blue (on banjo!) with Bela Fleck.
Eric is entering his tenth season as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, as he continues to pioneer the orchestra’s programming and community engagement in new and exciting directions. The 24-25 season looks forward to concerts including An Evening with Jamie Bernstein and the World Premiere of Gabe Kahane’s clarinet concerto for Anthony McGill.
Eric is also artistic director and co-founder of The Knights, the uniquely adventurous NYC-based chamber orchestra. The ensemble, founded with his brother, violinist Colin Jacobsen, grew out of late-night music reading parties with friends, good food and drink, and conversation. Current endeavors include a multi-year Rhapsody project as well as a residency at Carnegie Hall. Under Jacobsen’s baton, The Knights have developed an extensive recording collection, including albums with longtime collaborators Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Aaron Diehl, Gabe Kahane, and Anna Clyne.
Eric’s musical life started from a very young age surrounded by a musical family, where he discovered his love of pulling a bow across a string as a cellist. He and his brother founded the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and also performed regularly with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of Silk Road, touring around the world. This collaborative spirit and sense of music is something that Eric strives to bring to every concert and project.
A frequent guest conductor, Eric has established continuing relationships with the Colorado Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Dresden Musikfestspiele. Upcoming engagements also include concerts with Classical Tahoe and Grant Park Music Festival, and special performances with Yo-Yo Ma and the Atlanta Symphony and Utah Symphony.
Eric brings joy, storytelling, and a touch of humor to what he describes as “musical conversations” that delight audiences around the world, including those who do not traditionally attend classical music concerts. Jacobsen is married to Grammy-Winner singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan and together they have a daughter.
Piano
Jeffrey Kahane
Celebrated for his “imagination, devotion and supreme musicianship” (Los Angeles Times), Jeffrey Kahane is now in the fifth decade of an expansive and eclectic musical career. As a pianist, conductor and scholar, his career highlights run the gamut from concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, to recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, European tours at the podium of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, lecture and performances of Beethoven symphonies informed by his immersion in ancient literature, and collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca and Calidore String Quartets.
Highlights of Kahane’s recent seasons include his return to the Colorado Symphony as guest conductor and soloist; an engagement as piano soloist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a performance of his son, Gabriel Kahane’s, Heirloom (conducted by the composer); and a May 2024 performance of the same concerto at Carnegie Hall with The Knights under the direction of Eric Jacobsen, which was released on an album on Nonesuch Records. Solo appearances include programs with the Oregon Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, High Desert Chamber Music (Bend, OR), and Northwestern University, where he was featured in a program with his son, composer Gabriel Kahane.
Kahane served as Music Director of the Sarasota Music Festival for nine seasons, where he significantly expanded the diversity of both the faculty and the programming, often bringing in world-class guest ensembles. He also introduced workshops in improvisation and non-classical musical languages while maintaining a deep commitment to the core canonical repertoire.
During his two decades as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, where he is now Music Director Laureate, Kahane led the orchestra on an East Coast tour, including a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert with bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, as well as an eight-city European tour. He was instrumental in the creation of several new series, including his signature “Discover” concerts, each of which would illuminate a major work via a lecture-demonstration and performance. Among his proudest achievements from his LACO tenure was the introduction of the commissioning club, “Sound Investment,” which allows club members to witness and take part in the evolution of a major new work each season, following a composer’s process from conception to premiere.
As a capstone to his final season as music director of LACO, Kahane curated a three-week festival, “Lift Every Voice,” to celebrate the parallel achievements of composer Kurt Weill and Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who both fled Nazi Germany and became champions of the cause of civil rights in the US. The festival opened with a free concert of choral music at one of Southern California’s largest Black churches, where members of LACO played side-by-side with the Los Angeles Inner City Youth Orchestra. The choirs for the concert came from a church, a university, a synagogue and a Muslim elementary school. Among the festival’s other offerings, Kahane conducted Bruce Adolphe’s new violin concerto, I Will Not Remain Silent, which was composed in part as a tribute to Rabbi Prinz, and led the first Los Angeles performances in 67 years of Kurt Weill’s 1949 Broadway opera about apartheid, Lost in the Stars.
Kahane teaches a small class of gifted pianists, coaches chamber music, and occasionally teaches academic courses at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, and occasionally guest conducts the USC Thornton Symphony. In cooperation with the USC Classics department, he recently developed and co-taught a general education course for undergraduates exploring the connections between classical music and ancient classical literature.
Kahane and his wife Martha (a psychologist, choral singer and writer) met at summer camp at age ten. Their daughter Annie is an accomplished choreographer-dancer-poet, while their son Gabriel is a widely acclaimed singer-songwriter-composer. They find endless delight in their two grandchildren, Vera and Agnes. Beyond his musical pursuits, Kahane is a devoted reader, hiker and practitioner of yoga and meditation. He is perpetually refining his recipe for linguine with clam sauce, which has received glowing reviews from his family and a few close friends.
The Creators
Gustav Mahler
Fast Facts:
- Gustav Mahler was born in 1860 in Bohemia to a Jewish family. His family belonged to a German-speaking minority in this region, leading to Mahler’s sense of exile that continued throughout his life.
- Mahler developed his music skills from a young age, taking up piano at age 4 and gave his first public performance at 10 years old.
- Mahler composed mainly within two genres: song and symphony. His compositional output encompasses 9 completed symphonies (1 incomplete), 4 orchestral song cycles, and several collections of songs.
- Like many composers of his era, Mahler looked heavily towards Ludwig von Beethoven. He also was intimidated by the “curse of the Ninth Symphony” that affected fellow-composers including Beethoven, Schubert, and Bruckner. Mahler tried to avoid said curse by not numbering his symphony for Tenor, Alto, and Orchestra called Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). Eventually he did compose his 9th symphony in 1909, but sadly died before completing his 10th.
- In addition to composing, Mahler was also an avid conductor of both opera and symphonic orchestras. He held positions including at the Royal Municipal Theatre in Olmütz, the Czech National Theatre, the Neues Stadttheater in Leipzig, the Royal Hungarian Opera, the Vienna Court Opera, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.
Gabriel Kahane
Fast Facts:
- Gabriel Kahane is a living composer, born in 1981, whose musical career ranges from rock clubs to concert halls to Broadway theaters and more.
- Kahane grew up in a musical family as his father is a concert pianist and conductor, Jeffery Kahane (the soloist for these concerts!)
- Kahane composes for a variety genres and styles. He is a singer-songwriter who has released 7 EPs and albums so far, as well as composed a variety of orchestral and chamber works, vocal pieces, solo piano works, and theatre pieces.
- Many of Kahane’s works blend styles of popular music and classical idioms. His works are also noted for their ability to tackle politically difficult subjects and relevant subjects.
- Kahane’s best-known work is a song cycle called Craiglisterlieder where he set real Craigslist ads to music.
The Pieces
Kahane
Heirloom Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra
Listen to Kahane’s Heirloom: I. Guitars in the Attic by The Knights and Jeffery Kahane:
- Kahane’s Heirloom Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra was written between 2019 and 2023. It was premiered and written for Kahane’s father, Jeffery Kahane, who was a source of inspiration for the piece.
- The work, according to Kahane, is an “aural family scrapbook, exploring…a series of inheritances.” It takes inspiration from his family’s love of folk music, classical music traditions, German music and literature, and Kahane’s own songwriting style within the three movements.
- Each of the three movements explore different facets of Kahane’s family and his own upbringing, evident in the descriptive titles of each movement. The first movement, “Guitars in the Attic,” wrestles the challenge of blending popular music into classical concert settings through two main themes: one effervescent and direct, the other veiled and chorale-like, eventually blending the two into echoes of German art music and pop songs.
- The second movement, titled “My Grandmother Knew Alban Berg” follows the theme of intergenerational memory. Stemming from Kahane’s grandmother’s relationship with serialist composer Arnold Schoenberg as his nanny, this movement reflects on Kahane’s own ancestral familiarity with this musical style through the chromatic harmony of Berg and Schoenberg and a Brahmsian style — a nod to significant figures of the Austro-Germanic tradition.
- The final movement speaks to childhood innocence and happiness, both Kahane’s own and his daughter’s. Taking inspiration from fiddle-tunes in a rondo form, this movement not only speaks to the folk traditions Kahane was exposed to growing up but the joy and delight he experienced playing with his daughter and wife during the pandemic.
Mahler
Symphony No. 1, “Titan”
Listen to Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan” by the Munich Philharmonic:
- Mahler’s Symphony No.1 “Titan” was written between 1887 and 1888, but was revised by Mahler after its first premiere until 1899. Through these revisions, Mahler held posts as a conductor in Kassel, Vienna, Prague, Leipzig, Budapest, and Hamburg.
- Within this piece, Mahler includes musical material from other works of his including his Songs of a Wayfarer, notably influencing the first and third movements.
- Like many of Mahler’s symphonic works, he was originally inspired by many artworks and literary sources for each movement of the work. Inspiration came from works such as the writings of Jean Paul and E.T.A Hoffmann, the poems of Dante Alighieri, the woodcuts of Moritz con Schwind, and the children’s tune “Frère Jacques.” The nickname of the piece, “Titan,” comes from a novel by Jean Paul, but Mahler was clear that the symphony is not about the book directly.
- The first movement opens with a slow introduction, with the strings playing “like a sound of nature” as Mahler indicates in the score. Slowly, scattered gestures from across the orchestra come together into a cheerful melody taken from his Wayfarer Songs. The second movement is joyfully boisterous scherzo and trio, with a drinking song-like scherzo and pastoral trio.
- Following is a solemn funeral march version of “Frère Jacques”, interlacing grief and fragile beauty. In the final movement, Mahler erupts with wild energy, starting with a triple fortissimo cymbal crash with whirling violin figurations in response. However, the second theme of this movement is tender and expressive that radiates gentle lyricism within pianissimo. The two themes are explored together with other quotations from earlier movements, leading to a definitive close that dissolves into light.
Glossary
Music Director
The chief artistic leader and principal conductor of an orchestra who chooses pieces for the season, auditions new members, conducts rehearsals and concerts, advocates for the orchestra in the community, and much more!
Symphony
A large four movement work written for full orchestra. Or a large musical ensemble (50-100) that includes strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments.
Chamber Orchestra
A smaller-sized ensemble between 15-40 musicians.
Concerto
A work for a solo instrument accompanied by orchestra, usually in three movements.
Scherzo
Italian for “joke,” describes a piece of music usually in three with a quick and energetic character followed by a dance-like trio.
Song Cycle
A collection of songs with shared thematic details meant to be performed together to illustrate the given theme or story.
Twelve Tone/Serialism
A 20th century compositional technique where music is constructed by ordering the twelve chromatic pitches in specific orders and arrangements.
Discussion Questions
According to Gabriel Kahane, his Heirloom Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra is an “aural family scrapbook, exploring…a series of inheritances.” It takes inspiration from his family’s love of folk music, classical music traditions, German music and literature, and Kahane’s own songwriting style within the three movements.
Gabriel Kahane grew up in a musical family. If you were to produce a family scrapbook, what form (music, writing, movement, art) would it take and why? Describe the elements that would have to be in your scrapbook that reflect your family.
How does Gustav Mahler create “the sounds of nature” in the first movement of his Symphony No 1? Describe the instruments and/or the instrumentation and how they conjure animals or scenes in the natural world.