Concerts with works by

Henry Purcell

Klaus Mäkelä and Janine Jansen with the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Conductor Klaus Mäkelä says that a concert is like a journey through time. The composers featured on this programme were clearly inspired by older music. Robert Schumann had just suffered a nervous breakdown when he wrote his Second Symphony, a work in which he documents his recovery and overtly draws on the music of Bach, Haydn and Beethoven.Benjamin Britten’s music, in which the influence of older English masters is always palpable, is also in dialogue with the past. His Violin Concerto juxtaposes tradition with present-day circumstances: the year was 1939, and the threat of war imminent. With her extraordinary aptitude for capturing mood and atmosphere, violinist Janine Jansen is the perfect interpreter.Klaus Mäkelä says, ‘In Schumann’s music I always feel an aspect of the past, tradition, history. Britten too admired tradition. We make a combination with works from the 17th century by Purcell and Dowland, to prepare the atmosphere of the later works by Britten and Schumann, which contain the past. I think the music benefits from it. The cathedral-like, almost sacred atmosphere of Dowland and Purcell enhances those aspects in Schumann and Britten, putting their works in a different light.’

Klaus Mäkelä and Janine Jansen with the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Conductor Klaus Mäkelä says that a concert is like a journey through time. The composers featured on this programme were clearly inspired by older music. Robert Schumann had just suffered a nervous breakdown when he wrote his Second Symphony, a work in which he documents his recovery and overtly draws on the music of Bach, Haydn and Beethoven.Benjamin Britten’s music, in which the influence of older English masters is always palpable, is also in dialogue with the past. His Violin Concerto juxtaposes tradition with present-day circumstances: the year was 1939, and the threat of war imminent. With her extraordinary aptitude for capturing mood and atmosphere, violinist Janine Jansen is the perfect interpreter.Klaus Mäkelä says, ‘In Schumann’s music I always feel an aspect of the past, tradition, history. Britten too admired tradition. We make a combination with works from the 17th century by Purcell and Dowland, to prepare the atmosphere of the later works by Britten and Schumann, which contain the past. I think the music benefits from it. The cathedral-like, almost sacred atmosphere of Dowland and Purcell enhances those aspects in Schumann and Britten, putting their works in a different light.’

Concertgebouw Orchestra Annual Gala with Klaus Mäkelä

The Concertgebouw Orchestra presents its festive Annual Gala concert for loyal audience members, friends, and donors. The Annual Gala starts with a reception at 19.30, and the fashionable after-party goes on until midnight.Dress code: black tie.Guests are welcomed to a reception at 19.30, after which they will be ushered into the Main Hall for a uniquely memorable conducted by our artistic partner and future chief conductor, Klaus Mäkelä. Leading violinist Janine Jansen performs as soloist in Britten’s deeply moving Violin Concerto, the work with which she made her Concertgebouw Orchestra debut twenty years ago.The Concerto is preceded on the programme by the royal funeral march by Britten’s predecessor Purcell. Another well-known English lament from long ago opens Schumann’s deceptively sunny Second Symphony. Like Britten’s music, Schumann’s is also in dialogue with the past. Klaus Mäkelä says, ‘A concert is a journey. The cathedral-like, almost sacred atmosphere of Purcell enhances those aspects in Schumann and Britten, putting their works in a different light.’After the concert, you are invited to partake in the tantalising follow-up programmes in the foyers of the Concertgebouw. There will be ample opportunity to mingle with other guests, the conductor, soloists, and choir and orchestra members until midnight.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Cellist*innen des Konzerthausorchesters

What's even more beautiful than a cello? Ten cellos! Chamber music is one of the great joys of life for our orchestra musicians. Here, seven members of our cello group and our orchestra academy come together with their colleague Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who is our current artist in residence, for a musically diverse programme.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

Guest performance

Countertenor Alexander Chance sings Purcell

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!

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

Festival Élite 2025 – Inna KALUGINA

»The Art of Being Human«

Human existence is a contradictory business. »The Art of Being Human« explores the complex impacts of this trite fact. The Grammy award-winning viola da gamba ensemble Phantasm thereby ensures a musical performance at the very highest level. Its members put their instrumental mastery into operation for an evening in which old sounds and contemporary dance blend into an inseparable unit and jointly try to fathom the darkest recesses of the human condition. Choreographer Sommer Ulrickson and allround visual artist Alexander Polzin create a multidisciplinary framework in which music and movement come together, connect with each other, hook into each other, collide and cross fertilise. Under the leadership of Laurence Dreyfus, Phantasm plays music of English masters, such as John Dowland, Henry Purcell and William Byrd. At the same time, the musicians interact in the most diverse way with the dancers, who move as partners and yet adversaries around sculptures by the Berlin artist Alexander Polzin. The result is a staged concert evening, which makes full use of the potential of this currently popular format!

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

Brooklyn Rider

The New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider has been attracting a wide audience since its inception in 2005 with concerts that often cross genres. They visited Konserthuset for a highly acclaimed concert in 2014 and also performed at Fotografiska. All in line with the ensemble's desire to break away from the traditional and familiar.During their eagerly awaited return to Konserthuset, the programme ranges from British Baroque to French Betsy Jolas's third string quartet from 1973, which, in nine parts, explores the mysterious universe of music. A completely different character is found in Mozart's String Quartet in C Major, often called the Dissonant Quartet due to its long and striking introduction, which today we do not find particularly dissonant.After Arvo Pärt's meditative Solfeggio, Brooklyn Rider concludes with Brahms's wonderful first string quartet with its remarkable coherence. The opening and closing movements are characterized by a delightful and fervent temperament, with tender and luminous music in between.

Reverie and Rapture

Växjö-based Musica Vitae joins us accompanied by the British violinist and conductor Hugo Ticciati, who is active in Sweden. He founded the O/Modernt festival in 2011, known for its innovative and cross-genre programming, which also characterizes his concert with Musica Vitae.The first part of the concert presents music infused with religious reverie. We hear the mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen in Vos flores rosarum and wordless violin song in Arvo Pärt's Fratres. Additionally, two meditations on the theme of the suffering mother: John Tavener's Mother of God, Here I Stand from The Veil of the Temple, and Lera Auerbach's Sogno di Stabat Mater (Dream of Stabat Mater). After the interval, the mood shifts from spiritual contemplation to exalted rapture. In the enigmatically dancing Aksak and Ciphers, Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer has encoded both Brahms and family members in the score. This is followed by a musical dialogue between Philip Glass's baroque-inspired Symphony No. 3 and three arrangements of songs from the iconic grunge rock band Nirvana's album Nevermind. Bridging the gap between the baroque and contemporary rock music is Purcell’s Cold Song from his semi-opera The Fairy-Queen.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

HUMANS

Leipzig Ballet, under Rémy Fichet, presents "Humans," a double bill exploring creative and abstract dance narratives. Louis Stiens examines dance's embodiment, its impact on choreography, and Leipzig Ballet's history, linking to Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony. Sofia Nappi blends ballet, contemporary dance, and performance, exploring Baroque and modern elements with music by Clara Schumann and Henry Purcell, reflecting on femininity across eras.

Instrumental fireworks

‘Queen of the Baroque violin’ Rachel Podger will lead and inspire the Bach Society with her violin. Instrumental fireworks sparked off by one of today’s best Baroque violinists.Queen of the Baroque violin“What Beethoven was to the symphony, Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli was to the concerto: a shining example who was known to all composers. In this programme, Rachel Podger shows how far Corelli’s influence extended; way beyond the borders of Italy, to France and Germany. Virtuoso music by composers like Handel and Lully, in which Podger and the instrumental ensemble will shine.

Instrumental fireworks

‘Queen of the Baroque violin’ Rachel Podger will lead and inspire the Bach Society with her violin. Instrumental fireworks sparked off by one of today’s best Baroque violinists.Queen of the Baroque violin“What Beethoven was to the symphony, Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli was to the concerto: a shining example who was known to all composers. In this programme, Rachel Podger shows how far Corelli’s influence extended; way beyond the borders of Italy, to France and Germany. Virtuoso music by composers like Handel and Lully, in which Podger and the instrumental ensemble will shine.

Instrumental fireworks

‘Queen of the Baroque violin’ Rachel Podger will lead and inspire the Bach Society with her violin. Instrumental fireworks sparked off by one of today’s best Baroque violinists.Queen of the Baroque violin“What Beethoven was to the symphony, Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli was to the concerto: a shining example who was known to all composers. In this programme, Rachel Podger shows how far Corelli’s influence extended; way beyond the borders of Italy, to France and Germany. Virtuoso music by composers like Handel and Lully, in which Podger and the instrumental ensemble will shine.

Instrumental fireworks

‘Queen of the Baroque violin’ Rachel Podger will lead and inspire the Bach Society with her violin. Instrumental fireworks sparked off by one of today’s best Baroque violinists.Queen of the Baroque violin“What Beethoven was to the symphony, Italian composer and violinist Arcangelo Corelli was to the concerto: a shining example who was known to all composers. In this programme, Rachel Podger shows how far Corelli’s influence extended; way beyond the borders of Italy, to France and Germany. Virtuoso music by composers like Handel and Lully, in which Podger and the instrumental ensemble will shine.

Pearls in Baroque: The French Connection of Purcell

Dame Sarah Connolly ís Dido in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!