Alive, Adventurous, Alluring

A Series

A Series - Alive, Adventurous, Alluring

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Alive, adventurous, alluring

The A Series features symphonic music written over the last 100 years and contemporary musical trends. This season, the series showcases world premieres of music by Michel van der Aa and Christiaan Richter, and performances of works by Stravinsky, Honegger, Birtwistle and others.

Symphonic music written over the last 100 years, in six (or three) Friday evening concerts

The symphonic tradition is very much alive and kicking. In the A Series, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra focuses closely on music from the last 100 years – all under the baton of conductors who approach twentieth-century and new music with both passion and expertise. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has commissioned works by two Dutch composers, Michel van der Aa and Christiaan Richter, for its 2018–19 season.

A Series highlights

Van der Aa’s new double concerto, featuring violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and cellist Sol Gabetta as soloists, will be premiered under the direction of Peter Eötvös. He will also be leading the orchestra in the Dutch premiere of one of his own works and in Lutosławski’s brilliant Concerto for Orchestra.

The versatile pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, artist in residence with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra this season, can be heard in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s piano concerto Responses. Conductor Vladimir Jurowski is juxtaposing this work with twentieth-century French classics by Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen.

George Benjamin will be leading the orchestra, countertenor Bejun Mehta and the Netherlands Chamber Choir in his sumptuous Dream of the Song, which he composed for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2015. Spanish lyricism and the sunrise are two themes linking this composition to other works with Iberian overtones celebrating the dawn composed by Ravel, Richter and Sol.

Together with Stéphane Denève, the orchestra is performing Honegger’s compelling large-scale opera–oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher.

Christian Macelaru juxtaposes Weill’s ballet chanté, entitled Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins), with music from Shostakovich’s The Nose and a Dutch premiere by Karim Al-Zand.

Iván Fischer, for his part, will be conducting an all-Stravinsky programme featuring the complete ballet Petrushka.

Tickets for this series are available to Concert Friends at a discount.