Zelman Symphony capacity audiences of Mahler's epic Eighth Symphony - the "Symphony of a Thousand" - at the Melbourne Town Hall. In what was believed to be "a first" for an Australian Community Orchestra, the performances involved over 580 performers including an augmented Zelman Symphony of some 125 players led by Guest Concertmaster, Wilma Smith, Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and featuring many guest principal players from the MSO and other top orchestras and music institutions. David Macfarlane played the magnificent organ, a 370 voice choir was formed from nine community choirs, and an 80 voice children's choir involved students
Gaelic Symphony Six. The Symphony was "forgotten during the 1920s" but "made a comeback in the 1930s and 1940s," being performed by multiple orchestras, some multiple times each, although not by "major" orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic or Boston Symphony. The symphony has received continued praise from modern critics as well, such as Andrew Achenbach of "Gramophone", who in 2003 lauded the work for its "big heart, irresistible charm and confident progress." Gaelic Symphony Gaelic Symphony or Symphony in E-Minor, Op. 32 was written by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach in 1894; it was the first symphony composed and published by