Rafael Payare was appointed Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal SO) at the start of the 2022-23 season and one of their first projects together, Mahler's Fifth Symphony, has just been released by Pentatone.

Rafael Payare was in London recently conducting a run of much-praised performances of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden, and Gramophone's James Jolly took the opportunity to catch up with him to talk about his work in Montreal and the new Mahler recording.

Gramophone Podcasts are given in association with Wigmore Hall. (See below for the coming week's concerts.)

You can listen to the Podcast below. To hear other Gramophone podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'Gramophone' in your Podcast App of choice, or visit Gramophone's page on Apple Music podcasts. Meanwhile, further down this page you can also listen to new Mahler Fifth via Apple Music.

This Gramophone podcast is published in association with Wigmore Hall: this week's concerts include:

Friday, March 3 at 7.30pm: the bass-baritone Adam Plachetka, with Gary Matthewman at the piano, give a programme entitled ‘Prague – Vienna: The Two Homelands’, songs by Dvořák, Schubert and Richard Strauss.

Saturday, March 4 at 7.30pm: Hilary Hahn performs solo Bach.

Sunday, March 5 at 11.30am: the Aris Quartet play Mozart, his Dissonance Quartet and Schubert, the Rosamunde.

Sunday, March 5 at 7.30pm: Kirill Gerstein (piano), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Gordon Bintner (bass-baritone) perform music by Beethoven, Schoenberg, Busoni, Vladimir Vogel and Kurt Weill.

Monday, March 6 at 1pm and live streamed: the trumpeter Tine Ting Telseth and pianist Kathryn Stott play a mixed programme including music by Martinů, Shostakovich, Piazzolla, Gershwin and Fritz Kreisler

Monday, March 6 at 7.30pm: cellist Edgar Moreau and pianist David Kadouch play Schumann, Richard Strauss and Edvard Grieg.

Tuesday, March 7 at 1pm: the pianist Iyad Sughayer plays Khachaturian, Mozart, Schumann and Sibelius.

Tuesday, March 7 at 7.30pm: baritone Roderick Williams with Iain Burnside at the piano give a programme of songs called ’Tell me the Truth about Love’, including Schumann’s Dichterliebe.

International Women’s Day
Wednesday, March 8 at 1pm and live streamed: The Tippett Quartet joined by Héloise Werner for a programme of music by Caroline Shaw, Doreen Carwithen, Freya Waley-Cohen, Werner herself and Kate Whitley.

International Women’s Day
Wednesday, March 8 at 7.30pm and live streamed: The Hermes Experiment plays Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Clara Schumann, Caroline Shaw and many more.

Thursday, March 9 at 7.30pm: violinist Alina Ibragimova joins the Basel Chamber Orchestra, directed by fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, for music by Iris Szeghy, JC Bach and Mozart.

Friday, March 10 at 7.30pm: harpsichordist Jean Rondeau plays music by Fux, Haydn, Clementi, Beethoven and Mozart, the programme taking its title from Clementi’s Gradus ad Parnassum.