On hand for the season 3 premiere of “Mozart in the Jungle” at The Grove were cast members Gael García Bernal, Lola Kirke, Malcolm McDowell, Saffron Burrows, Dermot Mulroney, Bernadette Peters and Hannah Dunne. (Photo courtesy Amazon)

The Amazon series “Mozart in the Jungle” launched season 3 with some ensemble music and a speech by star Gael García Bernal at Los Angeles’ The Grove outdoor shopping mall on Dec. 1. The show, which scored Bernal Best Actor Golden Globe as well as nabbing Best Television Series Music or Comedy trophy this year, is a backstage look at a prestigious but financially challenged fictional New York Symphony.

Bernal plays the conductor Rodrigo, who the Los Angeles Times called “a dead ringer for Gustavo Dudamel, the youthful Venezuelan conductor who is the current music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.” Dudamel actually guested in season 2. Season 3 finds Rodrigo in Europe, overseeing a long-awaited return to the stage in Venice by grand opera diva Alessandra (Monica Bellucci).

Bernal previewed a clip from the new season and spoke about music education. “I think we’re all people that think music should be part of our initial encounter with this world. It should be part of any curriculum,” he noted, going on to advocate for down-time, “because that’s when kids grab an instrument. We shouldn’t be all the time entertained. There should be contemplation.”

The contract negotiations that started in season 1, resulting in a strike and lockout in season 2, see the orchestral family going separate ways in season 3, when oboist Hailey (Lola Kirke) contemplates switching to conducting as she tours Europe with an ensemble. Malcolm McDowell, Saffron Burrows and Bernadette Peters also star.

Season 3 episodes of the half-hour comedic drama become available on Amazon Prime Dec. 9. Based on the memoir by Blair Tindall, Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs & Classical Music, the show is executive produced by Roman Coppola, Paul Weitz, Jason Schwartzman and Will Graham. Gael García Bernal directs the season 3 finale.

Interesting aside, Coppola (son of director Francis Ford) is Schwartzman’s cousin, and their paternal grandfather, Carmine Coppola, was a flautist who in the 1940s worked under Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Later Carmine Coppola contributed original music to his son’s Godfather films (and along with Nino Rota won an Oscar for The Godfather II), as well as Apocalypse Now and The Black Stallion. He died in 1991. Carmine’s brother Anton, 99 and living in New York, is a composer and opera conductor.

To celebrate the season 3 premiere, soprano Ana Maria Martinez joined the concert event, conducted by Lesley Leighton. See a clip from the performance below.

Love hearing the #MozartintheJungle theme song (aka #lisztomania) live! (You can see the stars behind the stage) pic.twitter.com/kIAw1EK5tH

— Carly Mallenbaum (@ThatGirlCarly) December 2, 2016

To get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of the show’s music, check out the short clip sponsored by Intel for IMDB, below: