Come along on two heroic journeys. The concert opens with the world premiere of The Escapist Symphony by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates, presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This dramatic symphony is drawn from Bates’ hit opera The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which follows two Jewish cousins who escape Nazi-occupied Prague and create a comic book centered on an anti-fascist superhero. Then be swept away by Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, sometimes dubbed Titan, unfolding from the quiet awakenings of nature through an unsettling transformation of Frère Jacques to a storm-tossed yet ultimately triumphant finale.