The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra starts its new season with a festive inauguration dedicated to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, illustrating the diversity and richness of his oeuvre. Dutch Violinist Simone Lamsma performs Tchaikovsky’s popular Violin Concerto, a technically extremely challenging piece. Hong Kong-born Elim Chan – one of the most exciting conductors of the younger generation – is on the rostrum. Also on the programme is the Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet as well as an orchestral Suite from the ballet Swan Lake that takes listeners deeper into Tchaikovsky’s romantic fairy-tale world.PROGRAM Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto; Fantasy Overture “Romeo et Juliette”; Suite from Swan Lake
RCO: Fischer conducts Mozart, Rossini and Haydn
Iván Fischer conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a varied classical programme with Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 and two lively overtures by Rossini in the exceptional acoustics of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Introducing each of the two parts of the concert, the overtures to L’Italiana in Algeri and La gazza ladra set the tone with elegance and lightness. “With Iván Fischer, Haydn and Rossini allow the leading orchestra of the Netherlands to show off its finest skills” praises ResMusica. The heart of the first part is devoted to Mozart’s masterful Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola, played by two world-class artists: Isabelle Faust, one of the most outstanding violinists of our time, and Tabea Zimmermann, artist in residence this season with the Concertgebouw orchestra, offer a majestic duo.
RCO: Gatti conducts Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz
Daniele Gatti conducts the RCO in a special concert celebrating three Romantic heroes of the nineteenth-century: All works of the programme are related to dramatic choices and life determining decisions. All three depict the intensity of feelings of their romantic heroes, of their joy and grief about unfulfilled longing. “Daniele Gatti’s unconventionality is exiting” (NRC). “He took nothing for granted” (Trouw). “Triumphal!” (De Volkskrant) PROGRAM: Wagner, Overture to Tannhäuser; Liszt, Orpheus, Symphonic Poem No. 4; Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique
Kit Armstrong – Bach’s Goldberg Variations and its predecessors
“Armstrong’s phenomenal recital was so exceptional that every attempt to describe it falls short” (NRC). When Kit Armstrong performed at Amsterdam’s hallowed Concertgebouw for the first time, he mesmerized his audience with Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations. By combining them with earlier polyphonic variation masterpieces by William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and John Bull, in the present program he is shedding a new light on Bach’s masterpiece. When Kit Armstrong was only 14, the Los Angeles-born musical prodigy overcame his mentor Alfred Brendel’s reluctance to take on pupils. Brendel said: “He played so beautifully that I thought to myself, ‘I have to make time for him.’” Soon Armstrong was winning international prizes both as pianist and as composer and was appearing at some of the world’s foremost venues.
Elgar: Cello Concerto & Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
Sir Mark Elder and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra present a concert experience on the highest level at the Grote Zaal of Rotterdam’s famous De Doelen Concerthouse, performing Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, together with the internationally acclaimed German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. Elgar’s Cello Concerto, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire and, according to Müller-Schott, one of the composer’s most personal works. It is passionately performed by this “fearless player with technique to burn” (The New York Times), considered “one of the finest cellists before the public today” (The Sunday Times).
Being a passionate admirer of Jean Sibelius, Sir Mark Elder completes his programme with the Finnish composer’s Symphony No. 1.
RCO Opening Night 2016 – Daniele Gatti’s Inaugural Concert
The inaugural concert of Daniele Gatti as the new music director of Amsterdam’s fabled Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – only the seventh in its 128-year history. Together with baritone Christian Gerhaher, Gatti presented a bouquet of works including Mozart arias and the Wayfarer Songs by Gustav Mahler, with whom the “world’s best orchestra” (Gramophone international music critics’ poll) has a unique tradition going back to the composer himself – who called Amsterdam his “second musical home”. The programme also includes Respighi’s Fountains of Rome as well as overtures by Verdi and Beethoven – with 30 members of the Netherlands Youth Orchestra joining the RCO musicians for the Overture to Egmont.
RCO: Kerstmatinee 2016 – Bach: Christmas Oratorio (Cantatas IV-VI)
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s annual Kerstmatinee (Christmas Day Matinee) has become a beloved holiday tradition. For the second time, this matinee has been entirely dedicated to Bach’s inspirational Christmas Oratorio: The RCO presents the cantatas IV to VI, conducted by Trevor Pinnock, a renowned authority on eighteenth-century music. He leads the RCO in this masterpiece of Baroque music, accompanied by German coloratura soprano Marlis Petersen as well as Ursula Eittinger, Daniel Behle, Michael Nagy, and the “top ensemble” (Volkskrant) of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. The first three sections of the Christmas Oratorio, performed by the RCO under the baton of Jan Willem de Vriend, are also available: J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio (Cantatas I-III), Cat. No.: A 865 50025 0000.
RCO: Gatti conducts a French Night
Daniele Gatti is conducting three works all connected by the theme of nature and embodying the great musical changes taking place around 1900: Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and La mer and Igor Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps. In 1914, Debussy himself led the Concertgebouw Orchestra in his Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and was met at the stage door by an applauding crowd after the performance. Stravinsky made his first guest appearance with the orchestra in 1924, after which he returned regularly. He conducted his Sacre twice in a single day in 1926 to long and loud ovations – a striking contrast to the premiere which caused a scandal. Under the baton of Maestro Gatti, the orchestra is performing these three groundbreaking classics on the same programme for the very first time. “What a mesmerizing playing level! The RCO was again incredibly good, with a level of detail and refinement that no other conductor achieves.” (Het Paarol)
RCO: Hengelbrock conducts Schubert “Unfinished” & Mozart Requiem
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Thomas Hengelbrock present a fine selection of incomplete works by Schubert and Mozart. They are joined by Hengelbrock’s Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, “one of the world’s best choirs” (Gramophone), and by four proficient soloists. Performed one year after his death, the whole concert is dedicated to conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, RCO’s Honorary Guest Conductor from 1975 to 2013. According to Hengelbrock, being Harnoncourt’s pupil was a path-breaking experience. The encore “Komm o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder”, the very first Bach-chorale Hengelbrock and Harnoncourt performed together, is a deeply moving finale to a concert night “of radiant beauty” (NRC). PROGRAM Schubert: Stabat mater; Symphony No.8 ‘Unfinished’, W.A. Mozart: Requiem
RCO Opening Night 2017: Hengelbrock conducts Mozart and Dvorak
With its festive RCO Opening Night, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra kicks off the new season with a hall full of loyal listeners and new music lovers. The RCO is joined by celebrated conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and – for the first time ever – by German star soprano Diana Damrau. Together they perform well-loved arias and orchestral works by W.A. Mozart, as well as Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8. Dedicated to the genius of Mozart, the first half of the concert kicks off with the overture to Don Giovanni, played with gusto by the RCO and Thomas Hengelbrock, an expert in historically informed performance practice. Diana Damrau’s “L’amerò, sarò costante” is a sincere declaration of love while the concert aria “Bella mia fiamma, addio” is a dramatic farewell letter to a loved one which the singer performs with great passion. The programme is rounded off by Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8, an exuberant ode to the great outdoors.