Jan Lisiecki plays Beethoven

Jan Lisiecki plays Beethoven

There are few experiences in classical music more invigorating, or more stirring than Sibelius’s Second Symphony. Imagine a swelling river of sound; a musical voyage that begins amid the tranquillity of nature and ends in a surge of triumph. That’s Sibelius’s Second Symphony, and there are few experiences in classical music more invigorating, or more stirring. For the young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, Sibelius is a national hero. There’s another tale about memory to be told here, as Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki takes centre stage to showcase the grandeur and glory of Beethoven’s mighty ‘Emperor’ Concerto – a work dedicated to the composer’s patron and friend, Archduke Rudolf. *Please note a change of programme from originally advertised

Jan Mráček plays Strawinski

“Coincidence is itself merely the collision of the creative impulses.” (Friedrich Nietzsche) This concert presents a sound sculpture premiered in 1963 that plays with coincidence and seeks to exhaust the possibilities offered by mechanics. Ligeti’s "Poème symphonique" is a fascinating musical experiment: on stage are 100 metronomes, which are set in motion by some musicians. The metronomes tick away valiantly, all higgledy-piggledy at first, but then more and more of them lose their momentum and fall silent, until in the end only the most persistent metronome remains. Stravinsky, a musical revolutionary like Ligeti, once said of his creative ideas: "You take up a tradition to make something new." For his 1931 Violin Concerto, he drew on the baroque era – but defiantly spiced his music with whimsical ingredients from 20th-century light music. We look forward to welcoming Czech violinist Jan Mráček to the stage as our soloist in this exciting work. Mráček was the youngest prize winner of the "Prague Spring" competition in 2010 and since then has carved out a remarkable career. To bring our programme to a close, our orchestra will play a work that critic Eduard Hanslick found to contain an extraordinary "energy of genuine symphonic invention”. Brahms had completed his last symphony during his summer vacation of 1885. Even before its premiere in Meiningen, which the composer himself conducted, the work triggered associations with the cosmos in Brahms’ friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg: "The deeper I look into it, the more stars appear, the more individual joys I have, both expected and surprising, and the clearer becomes the consistent character that makes a unity of this multiplicity”.

Concertgebouw Orchestra plays Beethoven

In her first performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Han-Na Chang champions Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Symphony. Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Phantasma was inspired by Beethoven and Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze on display in Vienna’s Secession Building. Phantasma made a big impression on audiences at its world premiere, performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in October 2022. Klimt’s idealised vision of the world, brilliant explosions of colour, symbols and even gold – Deutsch brings them all to life in the music.Richard Strauss was unrivalled in his ability to make the most fantastic scenes come to life in music. Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote served as Strauss’s inspiration for his Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character. The adventures of the knight-errant and his faithful squire, as heroic as they are hilarious, come to life as the orchestra’s principal cellist Tatiana Vassiljeva and principal violist Santa Vižine, with support from the tenor tuba and bass clarinet, join their orchestra in battle. But who are they fighting? Windmills, sheep and, of course, the knight of the bright moon. Han-Na Chang now makes her first appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra five years after it was originally scheduled owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Schubert's Symphony No. 5 and Hannes Minnaar plays Beethoven

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.

Martin Fröst conducts and plays Brahms, Fröst, Hillborg, Bartók & Beethoven