A jingle of sleighbells, a flurry of flutes鈥t doesn鈥檛 take much to set Mahler鈥檚 Fourth Symphony in motion. But with Mahler, even the gentlest sounds can create a universe. From playful opening to final, blissful vision of heaven, the Fourth is a musical fairy tale like no other 鈥� an enchanting finish to a concert that begins with Dorothy Howell鈥檚 fantasy of a shape-shifting serpent and Kurt Weill鈥檚 typically feisty retelling of the myth of Orpheus.

There鈥檚 nothing quite like that, either - part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill. The 麻豆官网首页入口 Symphony Orchestra is lucky enough to have its own magical shape-shifter. Principal conductor Sakari Oramo is also a superb violinist and tonight he stars alongside soprano Anu Komsi at the centre of a concert where wonder comes as standard and nothing (except the music) is quite what it seems.