Classical concerts featuring

Paavo Järvi

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Víkingur Ólafsson / Paavo Järvi

Víkingur Ólafsson’s thing is to engage intensively with a work or a composer. After his fascinating world tour with Bach’s Goldberg Variations last season, the Icelandic pianist returns as soloist with Schumann’s Piano Concerto. As a lively addition, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich contributes his »Rhenish« Symphony – a showpiece for the Swiss orchestra and its energetic chief conductor Paavo Järvi. You can hear in the cheerfully flowing sounds of this symphony the motivational boost that the move from Leipzig to Düsseldorf on the Rhine meant for the composer.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Víkingur Ólafsson / Paavo Järvi

Since the Elbphilharmonie opened, Estonian star conductor Paavo Järvi has been one of its permanent guests, enchanting Hamburg audiences at several concerts a year. Now the conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen again comes to the Grand Hall with his second top orchestra, the venerable Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. They will be joined by Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, who gave two brilliant renderings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s »Goldberg Variations« in Hamburg last season. On the programme is a new piano concerto by US composer John Adams, which was commissioned by the Elbphilharmonie among others. And the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich tackles two of the most famous modern orchestral pieces by György Ligeti and Witold Lutosławski, who skilfully combined folk music from Hungary and Poland with a thrilling orchestral sound in the 1950s.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich / Paavo Järvi

With the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, its musical director the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi, and the music of John Adams—which he sometimes performs alongside the composer—Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is on friendly turf.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich

Newly appointed Düsseldorf music director's "Rhenish" Symphony, possibly inspired by Cologne Cathedral, exudes the motivational boost of his move to the Rhine. Paavo Järvi conducts this energetic piece, following Arvo Pärt's soundscapes. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson returns as soloist in Schumann's Piano Concerto, after a global tour with Bach's Goldberg Variations.

Anna Vinnitskaya Schumann Klavierkonzert

Anna Vinnitskaya, acclaimed for her Schumann interpretations, performs his piano concerto with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich under Paavo Järvi at the Philharmonie Essen. The program also features Schumann's "Rhenish" Symphony and Ligeti's "Concert Românesc." A special children's introduction is offered during the first half.

Free Lunchtime Concert: Public Rehearsal Concertgebouw Orchestra

For many years now, Lunchtime Concerts have been held in the Main Hall and the Recital Hall. The concerts range from public rehearsals by the Concertgebouworkest, to chamber music performances by young up-and-coming artists.For Lunchtime Concerts you will require a free ticket, which you can buy online. Doors to the concert hall open about 30 minutes before the Lunchtime Concert starts.We offer a broad range of music: the majority of concerts include classical music, but you can sometimes hear more modern repertoire. The concert programme is announced one week in advance on our website. The concerts last thirty minutes and are free of charge. Visitors are advised that these concerts are suitable for children from six years old.

Concertgebouw Orchestra with Jean-Yves Thibaudet

The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is in his element with repertoire from Northern and Eastern Europe, and this programme features three such works. Vesper (Poem) by his compatriot Ester Mägi (b. 1922, d. 2021), ‘the first lady of Estonian music’, is a poetic work for strings inspired by St John’s Church in Tallinn.The Khachaturian Piano Concerto is proof that colourful, vibrant music was indeed written in the Soviet era. The work is imbued with the influence of Armenian folk music. And to add to the exotic atmosphere, the piano is accompanied by a musical saw in the middle movement! The work is grist to Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s mill, a pianist who for decades has excelled in original repertoire.Stravinsky’s PetrushkaFinally, there’s Petrushka, Stravinsky’s exuberant ballet music about a marionette who comes to life, falls in love and wreaks havoc on a Russian carnival. Listeners need no sets or dancers to see the story unfold before them, and the colourful music lets all the members of the orchestra shine.

Concertgebouw Orchestra with Jean-Yves Thibaudet

The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is in his element with repertoire from Northern and Eastern Europe, and this programme features three such works. Vesper (Poem) by his compatriot Ester Mägi (b. 1922, d. 2021), ‘the first lady of Estonian music’, is a poetic work for strings inspired by St John’s Church in Tallinn.The Khachaturian Piano Concerto is proof that colourful, vibrant music was indeed written in the Soviet era. The work is imbued with the influence of Armenian folk music. And to add to the exotic atmosphere, the piano is accompanied by a musical saw in the middle movement! The work is grist to Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s mill, a pianist who for decades has excelled in original repertoire.Stravinsky’s PetrushkaFinally, there’s Petrushka, Stravinsky’s exuberant ballet music about a marionette who comes to life, falls in love and wreaks havoc on a Russian carnival. Listeners need no sets or dancers to see the story unfold before them, and the colourful music lets all the members of the orchestra shine.

Concertgebouw Orchestra with Jean-Yves Thibaudet

The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is in his element with repertoire from Northern and Eastern Europe, and this programme features three such works. Vesper (Poem) by his compatriot Ester Mägi (b. 1922, d. 2021), ‘the first lady of Estonian music’, is a poetic work for strings inspired by St John’s Church in Tallinn.The Khachaturian Piano Concerto is proof that colourful, vibrant music was indeed written in the Soviet era. The work is imbued with the influence of Armenian folk music. And to add to the exotic atmosphere, the piano is accompanied by a musical saw in the middle movement! The work is grist to Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s mill, a pianist who for decades has excelled in original repertoire.Stravinsky’s PetrushkaFinally, there’s Petrushka, Stravinsky’s exuberant ballet music about a marionette who comes to life, falls in love and wreaks havoc on a Russian carnival. Listeners need no sets or dancers to see the story unfold before them, and the colourful music lets all the members of the orchestra shine.

Concertgebouw Orchestra Essentials: Stravinsky

The Essentials series introduces you to the masterpieces you will be happy to know, performed by the world-famous Concertgebouw Orchestra and complete with a lively introduction by the incomparable Thomas Vanderveken. At Essentials we welcome a new generation of music lovers, and the concerts typically have a pleasant informal atmosphere.Inventive, lively, colourful and always with an irresistible swing: with Stravinsky’s ballet music, like the irresistible carnival spectacle Petrushka, you don’t need dancers or sets to see the story unfold before you. Petrushka, the Russian version of Punch, falls in love with a ballerina. But she has eyes only for the Moor. Petrushka causes chaos at the carnival and is eventually stabbed. Now Petrushka is dead. Or is he? Who rears his head there? Just as the magician in the story brings his wooden puppets to life, so Stravinsky the musical wizard conjures up images in the mind. The music lets every member of the orchestra shine.Essentials starts at 9 p.m. with an imaginative introduction to the programme (in Dutch).

Reunion with the dream team

Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, along with Paavo Järvi and Janine Jansen, revitalizes classical masterpieces like Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Their 2009 recording was praised for its fresh interpretation, with Jansen's performance described as if she were "discovering the work anew."

Works by Schubert and Beethoven

Reunion with the dream team

The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Janine Jansen / Paavo Järvi

A proven dream team: Paavo Järvi and »his« Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have blended an intensive artistic collaboration for a long time. They are especially at home at the interface between the classical and the romantic with the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and his successors. At the Hamburg International Music Festival, they are now exclusively pursuing this soundscape. Together with star violinist Janine Jansen, they dive into Beethoven’s monumental violin concerto and present it with an equally ground-breaking symphony by Franz Schubert. Beethoven conceived his violin concerto as an alternative to stark virtuoso pieces without acrobatics or cliched melodies. With its epic scale of just under three quarters of an hour and an aura of philosophical profundity, this work has been spellbinding to this day and presents violinists with the highest demands of musical shaping. In expression, the music penetrates very far into the intensity of romantic worlds of emotions and so builds a bridge to the music of Franz Schubert. Schubert’s »Tragic« does not skimp on dramatic moments, but in the fiery finale ultimately brings itself to a cheerful conclusion.

Works by Schubert and Beethoven

Works by Schubert and Beethoven

Works by Schubert and Beethoven

Works by Schubert and Beethoven

Reunion with the dream team

A homage to love

A homage to love