Mahler Festival: Concertgebouw Orchestra and Klaus Mäkelä — Mahler's Symphony No. 1

Amsterdam, Concertgebouw — Main Hall

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About the Event

Delve into the exquisite architecture of Amsterdam's iconic Concertgebouw, offering a premier concert experience that will deepen your appreciation of classical music.

Upcoming chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä of the Concertgebouw Orchestra will lead a performance of Mahler's First Symphony, an evocative composition brimming with stormy emotions, lyrical beauty, and creative imagery inspired by the natural world.

In 1903, Gustav Mahler first conducted this work with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, expressing his admiration for the orchestra, choirs, and attentive audience. 'The cultural appreciation of music here is remarkable! Such refined listening skills,' he noted. Today, Klaus Mäkelä, who has collaborated with the orchestra since 2022 and is set to become chief conductor by 2027, directs this symphony. He regards Mahler's composition as possibly the finest debut symphony ever, lauding its intricate blend of natural sounds, dances, and recollections of childhood.

Explored in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1:
Dynamic, lyrical, and imaginative, Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 paves the way for his subsequent works. It has undergone multiple revisions, incorporating a theme from the ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’. This symphony weaves together visions of spring, folk dances, storms, and hunting episodes, culminating in a victorious finale. The evening also features the Dutch premiere of a new piece by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg.

Artists

Orchestra:	Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The 'Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra' is a symphony orchestra of international renown, whose character has been shaped by several generations of musicians, longstanding collaboration with each of the six chief conductors, and the unique acoustic properties of the Concertgebouw’s main hall. The Orchestra has gained its unique international position with its ‘velvet’ strings, ‘golden’ brass and the exceptional and personal timbre of the woodwinds. The musicians are the guardians of the playing culture that gives the Orchestra its unique sound and flexibility. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra consists of 120 virtuosos who perform together at the highest level. During the fifty years of Willem Mengelberg’s reign, a wide variety of composers such as Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra several times. Celebrities such as Béla Bartók, Sergey Rachmaninoff and Sergey Prokofiev performed their own works as soloists. This crucial bond with contemporary composers was continued with Bruno Maderna, Peter Schat, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, Luigi Nono and John Adams, and is still RCO policy.
Conductor:	Klaus Mäkelä

Orchestra:

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The 'Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra' is a symphony orchestra of international renown, whose character has been shaped by several generations of musicians, longstanding collaboration with each of the six chief conductors, and the unique acoustic properties of the Concertgebouw’s main hall.

The Orchestra has gained its unique international position with its ‘velvet’ strings, ‘golden’ brass and the exceptional and personal timbre of the woodwinds. The musicians are the guardians of the playing culture that gives the Orchestra its unique sound and flexibility. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra consists of 120 virtuosos who perform together at the highest level.

During the fifty years of Willem Mengelberg’s reign, a wide variety of composers such as Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra several times. Celebrities such as Béla Bartók, Sergey Rachmaninoff and Sergey Prokofiev performed their own works as soloists. This crucial bond with contemporary composers was continued with Bruno Maderna, Peter Schat, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, Luigi Nono and John Adams, and is still RCO policy.

Conductor:

Klaus Mäkelä

Address

Concertgebouw, Concertgebouwplein, 10, Amsterdam, Netherlands — Google Maps

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