Discover Anton Bruckner, architect of mighty symphonic buildings, in the monumental Eighth Symphony under the baton of Manfred Honeck. Bruckner’s Eighth is a mighty fortress and a thrilling ride from darkness into light. Its world is, by turns, complex, gracious, peaceful, and turbulent – Bruckner invites you in, takes you along, and never lets you go.
RCO: Mariss Jansons conducts the Christmas Matinee (Kerstmatinee 2012)
‘Rarely is such a warm, captivating and smooth voice heard here in the Netherlands,’ wrote Peter van der Lint in the Dutch newspaper Trouw following the Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto’s last performance with the RCO, for which he garnered wide acclaim with the orchestra singing Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death on 25 August 2010. Now he returns with his favourite arias from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. After the interval, a truly unique event takes place: for the very first time, a work by Anton Bruckner is performed at one of the legendary Concertgebouw Christmas Matinee’s – and what’s more, it is conducted by chief conductor Mariss Jansons. ——- Program: W.A. MOZART: ‘Madamina, il catalogo è questo’ from ‘Don Giovanni’ KV 527; ‘Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso’ from ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ KV 492; Overture to ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ // ANTON BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7. (Cat. No. UNITEL A865500010000)
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 Opening Night 2023: Gianandrea Noseda – Dance and Rhythm
In this dazzling open-air concert, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra plays beloved classics and pleasant surprises. The season opening of the Concertgebouworkest will take place at the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam. Gianandrea Noseda conducts a festive program full of dance and rhythm, with famous pieces such as Ravel‘s Bolero and the Moldau by Smetana and some special surprises, including a world premiere.
RCO: Rouvali conducts Shostakovich and Morricone
Finnish conducting sensation Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for a marvelously program: the Dutch premieres of works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Ennio Morricone, plus Shostakovich’s philosophical, allusive 15th Symphony! The charismatic Rouvali, known for championing new and unique repertoire is the perfect choice for these two Dutch premieres: Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s “Metacosmos”, a fascinating “balance between beauty and chaos,” and the late, great Ennio Morricone’s “UT”, a concerto for trumpet performed by the excellent Omar Tomasoni, the RCO’s principal trumpeter. Rounding off the program is Shostakovich’s final completed symphony, No. 15 in A, the product of a burst of creativity in the early 1970s. Tonally expansive and delightfully referential, the symphony seemed to Shostakovich to “[appear] in my mind with total clarity from first note to last. There was nothing left for me to do but write it down.” PROGRAM Shostakovich: Symphony No 15; Thorvaldsdottir: Metacosmos; Morricone: UT
RCO: Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts Tchaikovsky and Weinberg
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts two works packed with folk tunes: Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, with Gabriela Montero, and Weinberg’s Third Symphony. The concert starts with music by Raminta Šerkšnyte. PRGRAM Raminta Šerkšnyte: De Profundis; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Weinberg: Symphony No. 3
RCO: Gardiner conducts Brahms Symphony No. 3
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 Third Symphony is juxtaposed with choral works sang by the Monteverdi Choir. Under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Brahms is instilled with a new radiance and vitality. PROGRAM Brahms: Symphony No. 1, Choral Works
RCO: Gardiner conducts Brahms Symphony No. 4
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 Fourth Symphony is juxtaposed with the Second 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. 4, Piano Concerto No. 2
RCO: Myung-whun Chung conducts Mahler 5
Myung-whun Chung adds a new chapter to the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s deep bond with Mahler’s kaleidoscopic Fifth Symphony. The Concertgebouw Orchestra has given no fewer than 127 performances of this symphony, the first time under the baton of the composer himself in 1906.
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