BBC Proms 2026: Mahler’s First by Heart

We return to the BBC Proms to lift the bonnet on Mahler’s First Symphony. A dramatised first half featuring mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis introduces the piece, before a complete performance after the interval.

‘All the floodgates within me have opened … my whole being points me towards this symphony.’ Fifteen years in the making, Mahler’s First Symphony was a major statement of intent – a musical distillation of the composer’s life in sound, from klezmer bands to the natural world, folk dances to funeral marches, symphony and song united as one. A dramatised first half featuring mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis introduces both the music and the story behind it, before a complete performance of the symphony after the interval. 

Audio-described by Timna Fibert

British Sign Language-interpreted by Kate Green (first half)