The Cleveland Orchestra will present the U.S. premiere of Mad Song by composer Geoffrey Gordon on November 13 2025 at Severance Hall, with conductor Tugan Sokhiev leading the program. The soloist for Mad Song, a concerto for the English horn, is the orchestra’s own principal English‑horn player Robert Walters. This concert also features Symphony No. 6 “Tragic” by Gustav Mahler, thereby pairing a landmark in the orchestral canon with a contemporary American work.
Mad Song was composed in 2020 and was originally commissioned for Dimitri Mestdag of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. In selecting it for the U.S. premiere, the Cleveland Orchestra continues its commitment to promoting contemporary American composition. For Walters, performing the piece is especially meaningful: he remarked that while the English horn is seldom featured as a solo vehicle, this concerto gives the instrument a rare spotlight and encourages listeners to appreciate its unique voice.
The composition itself draws on the text of English‑poet William Blake and offers an intense, evocative journey designed to explore the expressive character of the English horn against full orchestral forces. The placement of Mad Song at the start of a program anchored by Mahler’s Sixth is deliberate: the juxtaposition speaks to the orchestra’s architectural programming philosophy of linking new works with familiar masterpieces, thereby helping audiences to contextualize the modern piece within the larger tapestry of symphonic repertoire.
Audience members attending the November 13–15 run of performances (the concert repeats through the weekend) should note several production elements of interest. Tugan Sokhiev’s interpretation of the Mahler will highlight its trademark “hammer blows” and Mahler’s mixture of heroic optimism with existential intensity. Against that backdrop, Walters’ performance of Mad Song gives a contrasting intimacy and solo‑instrument focus—an evening of both grand symphonic sweep and concentrated solo expression.
Beyond the notes and narrative, this event reflects broader trends in orchestral programming: shared risk, innovation and bridging the familiar to the new. Many regional and major orchestras are increasingly blending world and national premieres with standard repertoire in order to engage wider audiences, attract new listeners and strengthen their artistic identity. In that light, Mad Song serves both as a sign of fresh creative investment and as a marker of the Cleveland Orchestra’s ongoing artistic ambitions.
For young musicians, composers and lovers of modern music, this performance is a meaningful opportunity. It showcases a contemporary concerto that offers a new role to an instrument with deep timbral potential, and gives the broader symphonic audience a chance to experience a piece that might otherwise fly under the radar. For longtime patrons, the inclusion of Mahler’s Sixth assures a program of weight and familiarity, making the experience both accessible and adventurous.
In effect, the November program is emblematic of where symphonic organizations are headed: melding new‑musical voices with enduring works, placing soloists in unexpected roles and weaving programming that honours tradition while embracing progress. For the Cleveland Orchestra, the US premiere of Mad Song stands out as a confident statement of purpose, and offers audiences in Cleveland a chance to witness a moment where contemporary composition takes centre stage alongside a symphonic classic.