The Count Basie Orchestra

The Swingin’ Hermlins and Swing Dance Orchestra

Andrej Hermlin and the Swing Dance Orchestra have dedicated themselves to the music of the golden 20s and 30s. Dressed in appropriate suits and without any electronic tricks, their concerts exude the charm and glamour of times past: from the birth of swing music in Harlem and American Christmas tunes to the classics of Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller. Andrej Hermlin has fulfilled a long-held dream and recreates one of the great moments of jazz history: together with his Swing Dance Orchestra he plays exactly the concert with which jazz icon Benny Goodman took Carnegie Hall by storm in 1938.

MIAGI Orchestra: Searching the African Footprint

The SummerConcerts powered by VriendenLoterij present two months of wonderful concerts, from classical to jazz and from pop music to film scores. Top musicians from the Netherlands and around the world bring you all your favourite classical pieces, as well as tributes to Leonard Cohen and The Beatles, and all your favourite film music.We also present a host of young talent in our summer concerts, including youth orchestras from South Africa and Turkey, and top young classical soloists. After many of the concerts, we offer a meet-and-greet with the artists in an informal setting, or an afterparty with DJ in the Entrance Hall. In one of the world’s finest concert halls, there’s something for everyone this summer at The Concertgebouw!

Richard Bona & Brussels Jazz Orchestra

It goes without saying that The Concertgebouw and jazz & pop music make a perfect combination. The stages of both the Main Hall and the Recital Hall have borne witness to nearly the whole of jazz history. Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald have both performed here, as have Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. Famous pop stars and bands that have graced the stage of the Main Hall include Frank Zappa, the Doors and the Eagles, to name but a few. Legendary concerts, in the present as well as the past.

World Sona Jobarteh – The magic of the African harp

Sona Jobarteh is the first professional female kora player to have conquered a previously male domain. She comes from a family of Gambian musicians with a long tradition of playing the kora, a 21-stringed West African bridge harp. Until now, women were only allowed to sing to the sounds of the kora – Sona Jobarteh combines both in her meditative music-making. Born and raised in London, she studied both classical music and traditional African music. Sona Jobarteh shows us how well tradition and innovation can complement one another.

The Naghash Ensemble Armenia

The Naghash Ensemble blends the deeply rooted spirituality of Armenian folk music with new classical, post-minimal and infectious energy. Three female classical singers and four virtuosic instrumentalists on the duduk, oud, dhol and piano play music based on the words of the medieval poet and Christian priest Mkrtich Naghash. Naghash was a 15th-century painter, poet and priest who sought to promote inter-religious dialogue. He initially lived on the shores of Lake Van in what is today Turkey, but later moved to Constantinople (Istanbul today) because of religious conflict. There, he processed his experiences of exile in poems that explore the themes of displacement, foreignness and the impossibility of arriving. Subsequent Armenian history is also marked by ethnic and religious suppression, expulsion and violence, culminating in the Ottoman Empire genocide of 1915 in which hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed or forced into exile. The grandmother of the Armenian-American composer John Hodian, who is a pianist with the Naghash Ensemble, fled to the USA to escape the genocide. No wonder Naghash’s poems moved him so deeply as a symbol of the fate of his people: »The words leapt off the page and into my soul.« Hodian’s »Songs of Exile« are carried by traditional Armenian melodies and rhythms, embodied by the oboe-like duduk, the oud lute and the dhol and dumbek drums. Combined with neo-classical sounds on the piano and the voices of three female singers – who are trained in western classical music as well as Armenian folk music – there emerges a haunting and unique soundscape.

World The voices of Persia

Hossein Alizadeh is a musical legend in his native Iran. He plays the Persian long-necked lute tār with unmatched virtuosity. Yet the musician is not a traditionalist. Though his playing is rooted in the traditional music of his country, his performances bring it into the here and now. For example, he has developed a new instrument from the traditional setar: the shourangiz, whose name means “to give passion”. With the two singers Zohre Gholipour and Mehdi Emami, we also hear two of Iran’s most important musical voices.

The King's Singers and Orchestra "Disney"

In October 1923, Walt and Roy Disney founded a small cartoon studio in Hollywood—what would later become the Walt Disney Company, a global film and media giant. For their centennial, the WDR Funkhausorchester and the King's Singers revive enchanting Disney musical moments that captivate all ages.

The Dumplings Orchestra

The Bonds Between Music, Homeland and Diaspora

What influences your own music-making? Which cultural roots play a role and how can you express yourself in music – especially when you live far away in the diaspora? These are questions about which the singer Ramadu and dancer, DJ and author Jumoke Adeyanju exchange views in order to jam together afterwards. Ramadu is the stage name of Dumisani Moyo. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, he lived in Vienna for a long time and now promotes the musical culture of his homeland. This season, he is developing one of the Elbphilharmonie join-in ensembles with the Chor zur Welt, a programme about the varied a cappella music in Southern Africa. He will be part of this panel discussion a few days before the concerts on 30 June. With Jumoke Adeyanju as his discussion partner, he faces a multi-disciplinary artist, who also studied African-/Asian Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin and completed a Masters in African Politics in London. Musa Okwonga, who likewise works in London as an author and musician as well as a radio presenter, moderates.

Kenny Garrett and Sounds from the Ancestors

His tone is unmistakable, his playing irrepressible and full of originality: it is none other than Kenny Garrett, one of the most important and versatile saxophonists of his generation, who rose to global fame as a member of Miles Davis’ band in the 1980s. Garrett then developed his own musical identity as a bandleader with albums like »African Exchange Student« and »Black Hope«. Black music culture has always been the starting point for his musical language, and he pays tribute to this in his latest project »Sounds from the Ancestors«. The saxophone legend marks his Elbphilharmonie debut with this exciting programme. »Sounds from the Ancestors« reflects the rich jazz, R&B and gospel history of Garrett’s home city of Detroit. Yet the album also has a contemporary and cosmopolitan feel – brought about especially by the inclusion of music from France, Cuba, Nigeria and Guadeloupe. »The concept,« he says, »was originally about drawing on some of the musical sounds I remember from my childhood – sounds that lift up the spirit, from songs like John Coltrane’s ›A Love Supreme‹, Aretha Franklin’s ›Amazing Grace‹, and Marvin Gaye’s ›What’s Going On‹, as well as the spiritual side of church. When I started thinking about it, I realised it was the spirit of my ancestors. Recognising the origins of the sounds we have incorporated into the aesthetic of Western music is extremely important.«