The Concertgebouw Orchestra celebrates the new concert season in Westerpark with conductor Alain Altinoglu, clarinettist Martin Fröst, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and music by Adams, Grieg and Bernstein. The evening gets off to an energetic start with John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. The programme continues with Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, followed by a selection of dances for clarinet and orchestra, in which clarinet virtuoso Martin Fröst can truly shine. The evening concludes with Bernstein’s popular Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
RCO: Luisi conducts Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky
Fabio Luisi conducts two intensely romantic Russian works: Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with master pianist Yefim Bronfman, artist in residence with the Concertgebouworkest. The soloist performing this compelling piano concerto is the star turn of the programme. Yefim Bronfman has been a popular guest with the Concertgebouworkest for twenty years, but has never before performed Rachmaninoff at Concertgebouworkest! Now at last we had the chance to hear how this connoisseur of the Russian repertoire approaches this marvellous work. PROGRAM Tchaikovsky; Symphony No. 6; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3.
RCO: Gardiner conducts Brahms Symphony No. 2
Who was Johannes Brahms? In a new cycle of four concerts, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, is investigating Brahms’s œuvre through the lens of the four symphonies performed over two seasons and accompanied by other works by the composer. The Second Symphony is juxtaposed with the First Piano Concerto with soloist Stephen Hough. Under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Brahms is instilled with a new radiance and vitality. PROGRAM Brahms: Symphony No. 2, Piano Concerto No. 1
RCO: Made in America
Don’t miss the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in an all-American extravaganza from their illustrious home venue in Amsterdam! Susanna Mälkki leads a program entitled “Made in America,” exploring American identity across three rare, well-chosen works. Opening the evening is A Short Piece for Orchestra by 20th-century African-American composer Julia Perry, a neoclassical work of complex and frenetic rhythms tempered by profound lyricism. Next up is the formidable Violin Concerto by John Adams, a revolutionary piece for the instrument whose exceptional melodic richness complements a marvelously original rhythmic frame. Ferociously difficult and rarely played, it is interpreted with brio and assurance by virtuoso violinist Leila Josefowicz. Finally, the concert closes with Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 2, an evocative blend of European influences and New England folklore. PROGRAM Perry: A Short Piece for Orchestra; Adams: Violin Concerto; Ives: Symphony No. 2
RCO Opening Night 2021: Daniel Harding & Leonidas Kavakos
The Royal Concertgebouworkest is celebrating the new season with a grand gift to the city, the country and the world. On Friday 10 September, the Concertgebouworkest opens the 2021/2022 season with a festive concert open-air in the heart of Amsterdam – that evening, music sounds through the streets from Dam Square. In this way, the musicians and the public bring the city back to life, ringing in the new season with you in this spectacular way! Daniel Harding is not only a conductor but also a pilot for Air France. Tonight, he leads us on a musical journey through Europe, ending in Paris. PROGRAM Roukens: CHASE; Strauss: DON JUAN; Paganini: LA CAMPANELLA; Verdi: LA FORZA DEL DESTINO; Boulanger: D´UN MATIN DE PRINTEMPS; Ravel: TZIGAN; Gershwin: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS + encores
RCO: Järvi conducts Mozart & Schumann
Víkingur Ólafsson is making his debut with the Concertgebouworkest. Over the past few years, he has attracted attention with his interpretation of music by Bach, Glass and contemporary music. That’s why it’s certainly be interesting to hear his interpretation of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, a work of unrivalled beauty anticipating the romantic era with its dramatic opening and its dark undercurrents. Paavo Järvi has made several impressive guest appearances with the Concertgebouworkest. He now shines his light on Schumann’s Third Symphony (‘Rhenish’), the culmination of Schumann’s efforts to prove himself as an orchestral composer. Inspired by the beautiful landscape of the Rhineland, he wanted this symphony to sound like folk music. But the work also sometimes has a solemn, spiritual intensity, the result of the deep impression that the then newly built Cologne Cathedral made on him. PROGRAM Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24; Schumann: Symphony No.3
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: Noseda conducts Liszt, Dvorák and Kodály
Yefim Bronfman is performing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, which makes a colourful Eastern European programme in combination with evocative works by Dvorák and Kodály under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. Yefim Bronfman is performing Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, which makes a colourful Eastern European programme in combination with evocative works by Dvorák and Kodály under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. PROGRAM Liszt: Piano Concerto No.2; Dvorák: The Noon Witch; Kodály: ‘Peacock’ Variations
RCO: Dudamel conducts Mozart & Mahler
After an absence of more than seven years, Gustavo Dudamel returns to the Concertgebouworkest. And how! For the first time, he will be leading the Amsterdam-based orchestra with its illustrious Mahler tradition in a symphony by Gustav Mahler. Relative to the rest of Mahler’s œuvre, the Symphony No. 4 is comparatively short, airy in tone and lightly scored, yet it is no less ambitious in its conception – the final movement, entitled Das himmlische Leben, is a childlike vision of heaven. It is sung in this performance by the Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling. PROGRAM Mozart: Overture “Die Zauberflöte”; Mahler: Symphony No. 4
RCO: Pappano conducts Beethoven & Schumann
Igor Levit returns to the Concertgebouworkest to perform Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano. The outstanding Russian–German pianist made his Concertgebouworkest debut in April 2018. Levit’s performance was ‘self-assured and challenging’, wrote De Volkskrant of his performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto ones again provides an opportunity for another exciting partnership. PROGRAM Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3; Schumann: Symphony No. 2