Tuesday 13 March, 8pm

Butterworth Hall, Arts Centre

Both of the works in this programme have substantial philosophical underpinning, Elgar's to do with the potency of music itself in relation to the human condition, and Mahler's with all-encompassing notions of life and death.

Elgar's 'The Music Makers' was inspired by the verses of Arthur O'Shaughnessy. The 'motif' of the poem is the idea that poets - the music makers and dreamers - are really the creators and inspirers of men and their deeds, and the true makers of history and of human societies. Their dreams and their visions are the foreshadowings of what the rest of mankind are pre-destined to work out in endless conflict.

Mahler devised a narrative programme for his Symphony No.2 "Resurrection"; the first movement represents a funeral and asks questions such as "Is there life after death?" The middle movements of the symphony follow a turbulent journey through the loss and reassertion of faith to the fifth movement, which concludes with a realisation of God's love, and recognition of everlasting life.

Tickets: £6 (£4) available from the Box Office on 024 7652 4524 or online at www.warwickartscentre.co.uk