Concertgebouworkest

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra originated in 1888, when its debut performance occurred on November 3. The group derived its name from the opulent Amsterdam venue that has served as its home ever since, a structure celebrated for its exceptional acoustics and containing both the expansive Grote Zaal and the more intimate Kleine Zaal.

Willem Kes became its inaugural conductor and introduced strict audience protocols previously unknown in Dutch concert halls, prohibiting eating, tardy entries, and conversation during performances. Although he elevated the ensemble to a high standard, it had not yet attained international preeminence by the time he stepped down in 1895. Willem Mengelberg then assumed the post of music director, remaining nearly fifty years and shaping the orchestra into an elite ensemble while producing numerous landmark recordings.

Mengelberg periodically took leaves to lead ensembles elsewhere in Europe and the United States, among them the New York Philharmonic, during which Pierre Monteux and Bruno Walter served as interim conductors. Although both he and the orchestra earned widespread esteem, the programming remained largely centered on the Germanic tradition, above all Beethoven and Richard Strauss, even as Mengelberg championed Gustav Mahler and presented Rachmaninov and Prokofiev performing their own compositions.

Mengelberg’s wartime alignment with the Nazis led to a six-year prohibition from conducting the orchestra after 1945. Eduard van Beinum succeeded him that year, expanding the repertory while sustaining the group’s elevated level of execution throughout his fourteen-year tenure, which ended with his death during a 1959 rehearsal. For the following four years, Eugen Jochum and Bernard Haitink shared leadership duties until Haitink was named chief conductor in 1963, a position he held until 1988 and during which the orchestra undertook many celebrated tours and recording projects.

Riccardo Chailly followed Haitink and continued to enlarge the repertory while overseeing another series of widely praised recordings. Mariss Jansons was appointed conductor in 2004. The ensemble now comprises 120 musicians and ranks among the world’s foremost orchestras.