Amsterdam is noisily preparing a big Mahler shebang in 2020, but Liverpool has got in first with a cycle of the complete Mahler symphonies next season, conducted by the departing music director Vasily Petrenko.
Liverpool was the first city in England to perform Mahler on a regular basis in the 1950s and 1960s, well ahead of London. The audience, I can testify, really knows its Mahler.
Other highlights: the Royal Wedding cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason will be Young Artist in Residence for a second season, performing with both the RLPO and the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and in recital with his sister Isata Kanneh-Mason.
Oh, and there will be a spot of Beethoven with Andrew Manze.
