Mahler & Mozart

The North Carolina Symphony is pairing Mozart and Mahler at the Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh on Friday, February 5, and Saturday, February 6, 2027. Both performances start at 8 PM, and Music Director Carlos Miguel Prieto is on the podium for both. The program puts two very different pieces on the same bill: Mozart's Serenade No. 6 'Serenata notturna' and Mahler's Symphony No. 9.

It's a wide gap between the two. Mozart's serenade is a light, wind-led piece written for an outdoor evening party, while Mahler's Ninth is a massive, late-career symphony that takes the full orchestra through some of its most emotional territory. Hearing them back-to-back lets you feel that contrast in one sitting.

This is part of the symphony's 2026/27 Classical season, which Prieto designed around pairing masterworks by Mozart and Mahler with pieces by Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven. The season also brings in guest artists Alessio Bax, Stella Chen, Clayton Stephenson, Vadim Gluzman, and Pacho Flores, so this particular program is one of several that will come through the hall over the course of the year.

If you want to get a head start on the evening, there are a couple of ways to do it. Doors open 90 minutes before each performance, and 'The Lounge' pre-show room has a complimentary beverage and light bites. At 7 PM, there's also Concert Insights, a free 30-minute experience where you can hear the evening's highlights in person with the guest artists and the conductor before the concert begins. Tickets run from $33.77 to $103.77, and every patron needs one—children aged 2 and under aren't permitted. The hall is at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in downtown Raleigh.