Superstar pianist Yuja Wang takes centrestage in the first Proms appearance of the Oslo Philharmonic under its new Chief Conductor Klaus Makëlä. Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben ends the concert in roof-raising style. “Boundless imagination matched to phenomenal technique made something far more fascinating than usual of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto.” (The Arts Desk) / “It was all something of a revelation […] Stunning, all of it.” (The Guardian) PROGRAM: Sibelius: Tapiola; Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1; Vladimir Horowitz: Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen; Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo ed Euridice; R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; J. Strauss II: Csárdás from Ritter Pásmán.
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Ravel, Bartók, and Connesson
The Concertgebouw Orchestra, conductor Klaus Mäkelä and two of the orchestra’s soloists transport you to distant worlds. Fairy tales by Ravel and Bartók and two works by the contemporary sound wizard Guillaume Connesson: four pieces of music to take in visually. PROGRAM Ravel: Shéhérazade; Connesson: Les belles heures (oboe concerto, commission, Dutch premiere); Danses concertantes (flute concerto, commission, Dutch premiere); Bartók: music from ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Strauss and Wagner
The chief conductor has traditionally led the orchestra in the Christmas Matinee – and now its future chief conductor, Klaus Mäkelä, assumes that role, leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a programme based on the theme of love. Wagner surprised his wife Cosima with the ‘Siegfried-Idyll’ on Christmas Day, 1870. Marital love also inspired Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, which he dedicated to the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza is a declaration of love for the music of Beethoven. It was with this same work that Klaus Mäkelä opened the programme he conducted on his Concertgebouw Orchestra debut in September 2020, when sparks between maestro and orchestra first flew. PROGRAM Unsuk Chin: subito con forza; Wagner: Siegfried-Idyll; Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Bruckner 5
In the field of Bruckner’s symphonies, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has built up an enviable reputation. For this reason, a performance of the Fifth Symphony together with conductor and artistic partner Klaus Mäkelä, is a not-to-be-missed opportunity. “It is in my opinion the greatest achievement as far as the symphonic form goes.” (Klaus Mäkelä)
RCO: Christmas Matinee with Klaus Mäkelä
Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas Matinee. This festive tradition has been a landmark of the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s season for almost fifty years. The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s future chief conductor conducts Beethoven’s magnificent ‘Eroica’ and works by no less than two Mendelssohns, Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: PROGRAM Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Felix Mendelssohn: The Hebrides, Infelice, Scherzo from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’; Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn: Hero und Leander
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Mozart & Sibelius
The Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who will become the orchestra’s eighth Chief Conductor in 2027, is leading the orchestra in Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony and in Mozart’s emotional Requiem: it’s fascinating music surrounded by speculation. The work thus became a requiem for Mozart himself, as well as a universally loved masterpiece which still serves as a source of comfort, reflection and pure listening pleasure to many. Jean Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony, a work full of menace and darkness – yet the work is not all doom and gloom: Sibelius’s Fourth contains beautiful moments of hope, light and mystery. PROGRAM Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; Mozart: Requiem
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Beethoven & Debussy
The concert is being led by the young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä. He is conducting two undisputed highlights of the history of orchestral music, taking us on a journey over land and sea with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the ‘Pastoral’, and Debussy’s “La mer”.
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Mahler 5
The chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä is once again following in the footsteps of Gustav Mahler. Since Mahler led the orchestra in his Fifth Symphony in 1906, they performed it 130 times. The kaleidoscopic symphony evokes emotional extremes. ‘Each movement has its friends and foes,’ Mahler once said. Yet the Adagietto, the symphony’s very lifeblood, seems to have only friends. According to Willem Mengelberg, the orchestra’s then chief conductor who maintained close contact with the composer, this movement was a pure declaration of love to Mahler’s wife Alma. The young violinist Daniel Lozakovich joins the Concertgebouw Orchestra for the first collaboration together. He shines in Max Bruch’s legendary First Violin Concerto. PROGRAM Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1; Mahler: Symphony No. 5
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Mahler 8
Performances of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony are not so common, especially on the anniversary of Mahler’s death. Led by their Chief Conductor Designate Klaus Mäkelä, Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ was the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s final contribution to the Concertgebouw’s Mahler Festival 2025. With four choirs—the Dutch National Radio Choir, the Laurens Symfonisch, Le Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, and the Dutch National Children’s Choir— this huge choral ensemble demonstrated immense energy and power. Seven international soloists, sopranos Golda Schultz and Miriam Kutrowatz, altos Jennifer Johnston and Okka von der Damerau, tenor Giorgio Berrugi, bariton Michael Nagy, and bass Tareq Nazmi, were all formidable. “A monumental Eighth from Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra” (Bachtrack)
RCO: Kerstmatinee 2025
The Christmas Matinee turns fifty this year! Klaus Mäkelä will conduct an enjoyable concert full of twilight tints, nocturnal whispers and tales from distant lands. Experience the fabulous stories from the One Thousand and One Nights in Rimsky-Korsakov’s sultry Sheherazade , the solo violin running through the work like a golden thread. Less well-known but just as compelling is the symphonic poem Lydische nacht by Alphons Diepenbrock, who is considered the most important Dutch composer of the late-Romantic period. Who wouldn’t feel for a shepherd all alone in the darkness with his turbulent inner world and the cool, impassive moon…