Wed, Aug 6, 2025
From 21 August to 4 September, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra embarks on an extensive summer tour across key European venues and festivals, led by its chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä.
Salzburg, Cologne, London, Berlin, Vienna
The tour starts at the Salzburg Festival, where the orchestra last performed in 2016. On 22 August, the orchestra plays at the Philharmonie in Cologne, marking the start of a residency in that hall. The orchestra will return to Cologne two more times in the 2025–26 season: in December with Andris Nelsons and again in February with Klaus Mäkelä. From Cologne, the orchestra travels to London on 23 August for two BBC Proms concerts, its first appearances at the Proms in eight years. After concerts in Berlin for the opening of the Musikfest Berlin and in Lucerne during the Lucerne Festival, the orchestra opens the season at the Konzerthaus Vienna. During this gala evening, orchestra musicians will also perform chamber music in the foyers of the Konzerthaus.
Two concert programmes
Two programmes will be performed during the tour. The first features violinist Janine Jansen as soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, alongside Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony, K. 297, and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The second programme consists of two works of special historical significance to the orchestra: Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, which Mahler himself conducted in Amsterdam on 8 March 1906, and Luciano Berio’s free completion of Schubert’s ‘Tenth Symphony’, Rendering, composed on commission for the orchestra’s 100th anniversary. Berio, born exactly 100 years ago on 24 October, had a close relationship with the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1968 onwards and conducted the orchestra himself on several occasions. Rendering has since become one of his most beloved works.
A number of our donors will accompany the orchestra on tour. This year’s annual donor trip will take place in Berlin, Lucerne and Vienna. During the BBC Proms concerts, the Companions will also meet donors residing in the United Kingdom who support the Dutch Masters Foundation.
