About this concert
Our Orchestra Academy has been training talented young musicians for twenty-five years. The Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra has since become an internationally renowned training institute and a key component of the orchestra’s full range of training initiatives catering for young musicians, including Concertgebouw Orchestra Young for musicians between 14 and 18 of age, the Ammodo Masterclass for young conductors (both every two years) and the Bernard Haitink Associate Conductorship. Dozens of alumni have gone on to find work in professional orchestras, including nineteen (shortly twenty-one) with the Concertgebouw Orchestra itself.
To celebrate, our chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä leads an orchestra made up of current and former participants in our talent development programmes. Aurel Dawidiuk, the first associate conductor in the orchestra’s history (2024–26), is conducting the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and is performing as soloist in Saint-Saëns’s Organ Concerto. Plus two former Academy students who have made it to principal positions in our orchestra are performing together as soloists in Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola!
With this anniversary concert, we highlight both the success of the Academy and the importance of our talent development programmes – not only for our own orchestra but for the entire classical music world. It’s much more than an anniversary concert – it’s a celebration of twenty-five years of the orchestra’s commitment to talent development and of a healthy future for symphonic music.
Two alumni who have made it to principal positions in our orchestra are performing together as soloists in Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola!
