Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam © Promo
Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam
The Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam was founded in 1888 and has since been located in the building from which its name derives, the Concertgebouw, which opened shortly before. Its concert hall is famous for its exceptionally good acoustics and is considered one of the best musical venues worldwide. The fact that the Concertgebouworkest performs under the special conditions of this hall is undoubtedly one of the reasons for the quality of the ensemble, also because it requires the musicians to listen to each other on stage with great concentration. In international rankings, the Concertgebouw Orchestra reliably occupies a top position.
A significant part of the orchestra's achievements is the unusually long-lasting collaboration with its respective principal conductors - in the long history of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, this position has only been filled seven times. Among them, a special place goes to Willem Mengelberg, who led the orchestra from 1895 to 1945 and led it to interpretations of unique freedom and expressiveness. His commitment to the music of Gustav Mahler, who often conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra himself, was unparalleled at the time and established the orchestra's special Mahler tradition, which has been continued by all subsequent principal conductors. Also unusually long was the tenure from 1963 to 1988 of Bernard Haitink, who died in October 2021 and had been Honorary Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 1999. The designated principal conductor is Klaus Mäkelä. He will take up the position in autumn 2027 and before that will work a lot with the orchestra as Artistic Partner. In addition to the principal conductors, almost all the great conductors from Arthur Nikisch and Felix Weingartner onwards have been guests at the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
In addition to Gustav Mahler, many other composers have had performances of their own works conducted by the Concertgebouworkest. Their impressive list ranges from Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky to the very recent John Adams, George Benjamin and Thomas Adès. The cultivation of contemporary music as an obligatory heritage is also continued through numerous composition commissions awarded annually.
As of August 2022