Concerts with works by

Antonín Dvořák

American Dreams: Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 and Bernstein's Candide

The Sunday Morning Concert brings you wonderful and much-loved compositions, performed by top musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. Enjoy the most beautiful music in the morning! You can make your Sunday complete by enjoying a delicious post-concert lunch in restaurant LIER.The Royal Concertgebouw is one of the best concert halls in the world, famous for its exceptional acoustics and varied programme. Attend a concert and have an experience you will never forget. Come and enjoy inspiring music in the beautiful surroundings of the Main Hall or the intimate Recital Hall.

Guest performance

Gastspiel in Budapest

Kammermusik des Konzerthausorchesters

Chamber music is one of the great joys of life for our orchestral musicians. Here they meet up with Lera Auerbach, the composer, pianist and visual artist to whom a ‘Creative Portrait’ is dedicated this season. The first piece is a composition for solo double bass. Then Lera Auerbach will play Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, first performed in 1785, in a version with string quintet. As the orchestra plays the role of a partner to the solo instrument in this concerto far more than in earlier representatives of the genre, K. 466 is probably a particularly good choice for such an arrangement! Antonín Dvořák wrote three string quintets - but only included the double bass in the middle one from 1875, thus providing an additional foundation. Czech folk music, dreamy passages and ‘dance melodies carried by shimmering sonorities’ - anyone who loves the composer's string serenade will also like this quintet.

Gürzenich-Chor Köln

Bob Ingalls' symphonic plea for the protection of Mother Earth, "Mother Earth Cries Out!", culminates in Dvořák's powerful setting of the Stabat Mater. Inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato si'", Ingalls' work depicts Mother Earth's desperate cry for care. Dvořák's Stabat Mater contemplates Mary's grief and the believer's compassion, ultimately turning to the prospect of paradise.

Spring

"Everything rejoices and hopes when spring renews itself," said Friedrich Schiller. Right on time for the beginning of spring, the musicians of the Young Symphony Orchestra at the State High School for Music invite the audience on an exciting musical journey from the mid-18th to the mid-20th century. Joseph Haydn's very special Symphony in F minor, "La passione," already suggests a connection between the Easter and Passion time and Ostara - the Germanic goddess of spring, fertility, and dawn. The inspiration for the program is also evident through the melodious Spring tributes of Frederik Delius, Jean Sibelius, or Lili Boulanger, with the musical journey also leading through distant and unique landscapes of the European continent: from the idyllic plains of England to the cool Parisian mornings and into the Finnish wilderness. Less picturesque, but brilliantly vivid, Antonín Dvorák explores the contrasting colors of the wilderness in a fascinating way in "The Wood Dove." Finally, Johann Strauss gifts us with light, warmth, and coziness in his waltz "Roses from the South."

Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Ervis Gega

Dvořák Gibson Brahms

Dvořák Gibson Brahms

An Evening of Songs

Piotr Beczała, photo: Jean-Baptiste Millot

Lukas Sternath. Festivalcampus-Ensemble Böhmen liegt am Meer

The most ambitious musicians born around the millennium are no longer content just playing the old masterpieces. They listen to each other, question the world, and explore new program ideas. The canonical scores serve as a cultural base. When Festival campus ensemble members join the pianist Lukas Sternath, they'll play Dvořák's piano quintet.

Pavel Haas Quartet and Boris Giltburg: Dvořák and Brahms

For lovers of chamber music the Recital Hall is the venue of choice. You can hear the musicians breathe and you can practically touch them. This hall is also cherished by musicians for its beautiful acoustics and direct contact with the audience. In the Recital Hall you can hear the best musicians of our time. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Recital Hall for yourself!

Bennewitz Quartet / Veronika Hagen

They have only just celebrated their 25th anniversary – and are still going, stronger than ever. The Bennewitz Quartet, made up of four gentlemen from the Czech Republic, has established a superb reputation in the quarter of a century it has been performing. Its members are regarded as the cultural ambassadors of their homeland, revered for their warm, homogeneous sound. Now they have invited Veronika Hagen, violist in the legendary Hagen Quartet, to expand their line-up into a quintet. Their concert promises a programme full of contrasts, fluctuating between idylls of nature, the innate lifeforce, and moments of farewell. Antonín Dvořák spent his first summer in the USA not amid the hustle and bustle of New York City, where he ran the conservatory, but surrounded by the tranquillity of Iowa. A Czech community had formed in the small town of Spitville and they invited the composer to stay with them. He must have heard not only the sounds of the »New World«, but also plenty of familiar Bohemian music. At its premiere the following winter, his quintet even transported New Yorkers to this rural summer idyll, and proved an instant success. »Our will for culture was just as great as our will to exist!« wrote the Polish-Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann, recounting his time in the Theresienstadt ghetto. His third string quartet was composed there: gripping music full of a desire to survive. Johannes Brahms, by contrast, wrote his string quintet as a farewell to composing and perhaps even to life itself. Though he would go on to compose other works, his quintet is full of gentle melancholy, a look back over Brahms’ legacy.

Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Daniel Cho / James Conlon

In this concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by James Conlon, »the« Czech composer of the 19th century meets »the« Czech composer of the 20th. We are, of course, talking about Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů. With his Seventh Symphony, Dvořák was keen to prove that he was far more than merely a master of local Czech influences. »My symphony should turn out in such a way that it moves the world,« and it has done so ever since its acclaimed premiere in London in the 1880s. »I cannot tell you how much the English honour me! I’m written about everywhere and they say I’m the lion of this year’s music season in London.«

Dvořák: Stabat mater & Te Deum

The two works on this evening mark the beginning and climax of Antonín Dvořák’s success for good reason: After its premiere in Prague in 1880, the »Stabat mater« laid the foundation for Dvořák’s international career. In London in 1883, the audience was so enthusiastic that Dvořák was invited the following year to personally conduct a performance at the Royal Albert Hall with 800 singers, a large orchestra and an audience of 12,000. The magnificent success marked Dvořák’s international breakthrough. Almost ten years later, the »Te Deum« was premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York. Dvořák, known for his Bohemian, native national colour, was commissioned to help the Americans in their search for their own national musical style. During his time in the USA, Dvořák composed his most famous works today, such as the Ninth Symphony »From the New World« and the Cello Concerto.

Mendelssohn-Quartett Leipzig

Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Daniel Cho / James Conlon

In this concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by James Conlon, »the« Czech composer of the 19th century meets »the« Czech composer of the 20th. We are, of course, talking about Antonín Dvořák and Bohuslav Martinů. With his Seventh Symphony, Dvořák was keen to prove that he was far more than merely a master of local Czech influences. »My symphony should turn out in such a way that it moves the world,« and it has done so ever since its acclaimed premiere in London in the 1880s. »I cannot tell you how much the English honour me! I’m written about everywhere and they say I’m the lion of this year’s music season in London.«

Mariani Klavierquartett

The Mariani Piano Quartet consists of Berliner Philharmoniker member Philipp Bohnen, Gewandhaus violist Barbara Buntrock, hr-Sinfonieorchester cellist Peter-Philipp Staemmler, and pianist Gerhard Vielhaber. They champion rediscovered works like Friedrich Gernsheim's piano quartets, banned by the Nazis due to his Jewish heritage. The program also features Gernsheim's romantic first quartet, Bohuslav Martinů's energetic quartet, and Antonín Dvořák. A 7-minute discussion explores aspects of the program.

Guest performance

Pleistozän

The Arctic is an alien habitat, a magnet for travellers, researchers and adventurers. And in the meantime, the continent has become a symbol of climate change. In the innovative scientific concert entitled »Pleistozän« (Pleistocene – the name of the last great ice age), geographer Dr André Baumeister takes the audience on a great journey through time illustrating the development of this unique habitat. He shows pictures and films, reports on his journeys along the Norwegian coast to the upper Arctic, Spitsbergen and the east coast of Greenland – and brings the beauty and fragility of the Arctic to life. An orchestra plays works to accompany the film, including music by Australian composer Nigel Westlake, who himself ventured onto the eternal ice with his »Antarctica Suite« of 1991.

»Le Passion de Carmen«

Soprano Stella Motina and pianist Vera Bogdanchikova take the audience on an unforgettable musical journey through the south of Spain and explore the passion of Carmen. From Manuel de Falla’s »Seven Spanish Folk Songs«, which illuminate love in ever new facets, they move on to Dvořák’s »Cigánské Melodie«, which awakens the desire to dance. To the sound of castanets, the audience finally arrives in Seville and takes a break in the »Lillas Pastia« taverna. The best melodies from »Carmen« by Georges Bizet are played here. Carmen, the beautiful, self-confident woman, enjoys her freedom. An adventure unfolds: love, passion, jealousy and the prophecy of fate. The beating of the chords is reminiscent of the stamping of feet in flamenco, in which the woman seems to lift her heels to assert her personal independence. The exciting journey comes to an end, but of course the listeners can linger for a moment and prolong the melodic excursion. The artists have prepared something very special.

Ruth Reinhardt & Vivi Vassileva

Rising Stars / Quatuor Agate

Quatuor Agate drew its name from Brahms’ Sextet No. 2, dedicated to the composer’s second love, Agathe von Siebold. For this programme, it pairs Ligeti’s quite Bartókian Quartet No. 1 and Dvořák’s Quartet No. 13, a triumph among his chamber music.

Alla Boemia

Beethoven and Price

In a completely new manner from before, Beethoven infused his second symphony with surprising effects. The orchestra swiftly switches between the faintest of whispers to thunderous outbursts in sudden turns. Here, wild humor and dramatic mood abound. Portuguese conductor Dinis Sousa leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in this symphonic milestone.The concert appropriately commences with an overture: Dvorák's powerful and darkly evocative Othello – one of three concert overtures Dvorák wrote to musically portray various aspects of human existence.The young British pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason (born 2003) makes her debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She is at the beginning of a flourishing career and performs here with the romantically grandiose piano concerto by American composer Florence Price (1887–1953) – music never before heard in Konserthuset.Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is the sister of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason – who performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. Both have previously appeared at Konserthuset. They are three of seven extremely talented siblings often referred to as The Kanneh-Masons.

Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas Hilary Hahn Jean Sibelius Antonín Dvořák Ludwig van Beethoven

“It’s lush, it’s romantic, it has conflict and lightness. There is a physicality to this piece that’s really fun.” This is how tonight’s soloist Hilary Hahn described Antonín Dvořáks Violin Concerto when she recorded the piece in 2022. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) played the violin, and worked as an orchestral violist for ten years before his breakthrough as a composer. The Violin Concerto in A minor from 1883 is, like much of Dvořák’s music, strongly influenced by Czech musical heritage, with lively melodies and strong contrasts. The concert opens with the short but eventful orchestral piece Pan and Ekho from 1906 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). The piece is based on Greek mythology and the wild god Pan’s romantic advances towards the unhappy nymph Ekho, who can only repeat what others say.Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) started working on his Symphony No. 7 during a refreshing stay in the spa town of Teplitz. He conducted the symphony premiere in 1813 at a charity concert for wounded soldiers who had returned from the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon’s failed crusade toward Russia, the tides had turned. Symphony No. 7 was premiered along with a piece celebrating the Battle of Vitoria. The concert hit the zeitgeist perfectly and was a huge success. Beethoven referred to the symphony as one of his best works. The symphony opens with a slow, suggestive introduction. The melancholic second movement Allegretto is the symphony’s most famous – at the first concerts it was cheered as an encore. The last movement is perhaps the most thrilling music Beethoven wrote.

Abwechslung ist die Seele der Musik

At Sunday's chamber music concert in Hall 1 of the Tabakquartier, alternating ensembles from the ranks of the Bremen Philharmonic will present some of their favorite works from the chamber music repertoire.

Chamber concert: String sextet

Remarkable leaps and bounds for the chamber music playing that our orchestra members love: Borodin was actually a full-time chemist and physician, but his passion for music constantly rekindled, including from 1859 in Heidelberg – where he composed his romantic string sextet in D minor. Some time later, he returned to Russia and the work was lost. It did not turn up for almost 100 years until it was finally discovered in an antiquarian bookshop. And it may still be missing something, as it consists of just two movements – one of which seems to shimmer like Mendelssohn’s »Midsummer Night’s Dream« and the other is laced with folk songs from Borodin's homeland. Dvořák’s sextet, premiered in 1879, also bubbles along folkloristically, which has to do with its chronological proximity to his famous »Slavonic Dances« and emphasises his image as a »Bohemian musician«. Although this was only one aspect of his multifaceted personality, Dvořák loved the cheerful and colourful environment around him, where people liked to celebrate festivals. His work quickly became one of the classics of the genre – and also inspired Schönberg to write his string sextet »Verklärte Nacht« in 1899. It is based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, saying: »There is a glow around everything, you drift with me across a cold sea, but a warmth of your own flickers from you into me, from me into you.« Schönberg found a poetic voice here that reflected his aesthetic stance – and an impressive love story that defied the moral standards of the time. He created a late romantic musical world for this – and the composition is one of his most popular pieces of chamber music today.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Anja Bihlmaier

„The 'Concert Românesc' reflects my deep love for Romanian folk music and Romanian-speaking culture as such. The piece was immediately banned and only performed many decades later,“ says Ligeti about his 1951 work, which was banned at the time due to some dissonances that were considered undesirable. The Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov then takes his place among the Konzerthausorchester. In the Piano Concerto in G major from 1784, Mozart leaves old formal principles behind, including the fact that the winds are already frequently entrusted with solo tasks. The concert, conducted by Anja Bihlmaier, ends with Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, which beautifully showcases the orchestral instruments in a lyrical and melodic manner - from the waltz-loving strings to the virtuoso flute dancing along in the last movement.

Mozart-Matinee

The Konzerthausorchester invites families to the Great Hall on Sundays at 11.00 - croissants and hot chocolate included! A musician always leads through the program. They reveal secrets from everyday life in the orchestra and invite you to join in. Meanwhile, younger siblings between the ages of 3 and 6 are very welcome at the “Musical childcare”.

Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Anja Bihlmaier

„The 'Concert Românesc' reflects my deep love for Romanian folk music and Romanian-speaking culture as such. The piece was immediately banned and only performed many decades later,“ says Ligeti about his 1951 work, which was banned at the time due to some dissonances that were considered undesirable. The Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov then takes his place amog the Konzerthausorchester. In the Piano Concerto in G major from 1784, Mozart leaves old formal principles behind, including the fact that the winds are already frequently entrusted with solo tasks. The concert, conducted by Anja Bihlmaier, ends with Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, which beautifully showcases the orchestral instruments in a lyrical and melodic manner - from the waltz-loving strings to the virtuoso flute dancing along in the last movement.