The Singapore Symphony launches its 2026/27 season with a bold step into the future. The journey begins with two contemporary works: a newly commissioned piece by Singaporean composer Tan Chan Boon, and Mason Bates’s Nomad Concerto, “the mysterious and soulful music of the wanderer”, written to highlight the Old World warmth and elegance of master violinist Gil Shaham. Set against these fresh sonic landscapes is Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a towering masterpiece that captures a world on the brink of transformation. Its electrifying opening, radiant Adagietto and triumphant finale form a grand fin de siècle arc—an eclipse of the old and a blaze of the new. This powerful programme also marks the dawn of a new chapter for the orchestra: the inauguration of Hannu Lintu as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director. A season opens, a new era begins.