Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Soon after its establishment in 1888, the Concertgebouw Orchestra developed into one of the best orchestras in Europe. “Really magnificent, full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm” as Richard Strauss described it in 1897. The Orchestra was granted Royal status in 1988. It has made more than a thousand recordings and is regarded worldwide as one of the most prestigious symphony orchestras. The fact that it has been led by only a limited number of chief conductors has played a decisive role in this development.

The musicians
The Orchestra has gained its unique international position with its ‘velvet' strings, ‘golden' brass, the exceptional and personal timbre of the woodwinds and its renowned 'Republic of Percussion', as the section was named by Bernard Haitink.
The musicians are the guardians of the playing culture that gives the Orchestra its unique sound and flexibility. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra consists of 120 virtuosos who perform together at the highest level.

The composers
During the fifty years of Willem Mengelberg's reign, a wide variety of composers such as Richard Strauss, Mahler, Debussy and Stravinsky conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra several times. Celebrities such as Bartók, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev performed their own works as soloists. This crucial bond with contemporary composers was continued with Maderna, Schat, Berio, Henze, Nono, Adams and many others.

Mahler and Bruckner
The Orchestra has gained international acclaim with its interpretations of the late romantic repertoire. The Mahler tradition, embedded in the many performances Mahler conducted here personally, achieved great heights during the Mahler Festivals in 1920 and 1995. Bernard Haitink made a huge impression with his complete recording of the Mahler symphonies and with the Christmas matinees. Bruckner, too, is a vital part of the Orchestra's repertoire. After the war, it was Eduard van Beinum in particular who drew attention to French music and the Bruckner symphonies. With his interpretations in the concert hall and on CD recordings, Riccardo Chailly made a major contribution to contemporary music and opera. With Mariss Jansons a new phase has just started. The orchestra will continue to develop its wide repertoire, with special attention to the music of such composers as Mahler, Bruckner and Strauss, and also for the works of Shostakovich whose 100th anniversary was celebrated in 2006 in a major project. In Mariss Jansons' first two seasons as chief conductor, he has conducted a broad range of repertoire, extending from Haydn and Mozart to a new work by Henze.

The guest conductors
The Concertgebouw Orchestra has worked with many guest conductors, each of whom made a unique contribution to the development of the sound and the repertoire, including Arthur Nikisch, Karl Muck, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Pierre Monteux, Eugen Jochum, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, George Szell, Carlos Kleiber, Leonard Bernstein, Colin Davis, Kurt Sanderling, Kirill Kondrashin, Carlo Maria Giulini, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann and honorary guest conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Check HERE all new CD's and DVD's that have been released the last couple of years.

Concert Tours 2008/9
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has a reputation as one of the world's leading symphony orchestras. For decades, the orchestra has played a key role abroad as the country's pre-eminent musical ambassador. In keeping with tradition, the orchestra will make appearances outside the Netherlands in the 2007/08 season. Unless otherwise indicated, the concerts listed below will be conducted by the RCO's principal conductor Mariss Jansons.

In 2008/2009 the orchestra is performing in the following cities:
Lisboa, Madrid, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, London, Granada, Milano, Freiburg, Wiesbaden, Berlin, LuzernGent, Dijon, Beijing, Shanghai,Tokio, Yokohama, Kyoto, Nagoya, Essen, Brussels, Frankfurt, Basel, Vienna, London,Paris, Napels, Torino, Athene, Dresden, Dortmund and Luxembourg.