Tafelmusik presents Mozart 40 & Schubert 5 with Rachel Podger

“Podger and Tafelmusik breathed and spoke through the score and gave themselves, and us, the space to be human … This is the biggest gift of life: total engagement.”
(Ludwig van Toronto)

Critics were quick to notice the “special chemistry” (Barcza Blog) between Tafelmusik and Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger. Directing from the violin with energy that is so “strong and confident as to be paradigm shifting” (Barcza Blog), Podger jump-starts two mainstays of the classical symphonic repertoire.

Written three years before his death in 1791, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 opens with an intense sense of urgency. The work influenced future generations of composers, including Schubert, who felt “gently haunted by the magic notes of Mozart’s music” while writing his Symphony No. 5.  Sparkling with crispness and clarity, Schubert’s symphony reveals his gift for graceful melody while surprising us with moments of youthful boldness.