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Marking the 150th anniversary of Mahler's birth, the Proms opens with his monumental Symphony No. 8, Symphony Of A Thousand, first performed in the UK 80 years ago under Henry Wood. More than 400 voices join the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Symphony Orchestra and Jirí Belohlávek for what is only the eighth Proms performance of this mighty work (16 July).

This is followed three days later by the Proms premiere of Mahler's orchestration of Schumann's Manfred overture from Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (19 July).

Five more Mahler symphonies (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7) are performed during the season by such great musical partnerships as the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle (3 September); ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Donald Runnicles (4 August); World Orchestra for Peace and Valery Gergiev (5 August); and Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin and Ingo Metzmacher (10 August).

There are also three of Mahler's great orchestral song-cycles: selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova (30 July); the poignant Rückert-Lieder with baritone Simon Keenlyside (21 August); and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with baritone Christian Gerhaher as the lovelorn wayfarer (1 September).