The Academy celebrates its 25th anniversary

Since September, fourteen young talents have once again been spending a full season with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. They rehearse and perform alongside the orchestra, receive coaching from its musicians and prepare for a career as an orchestral player. Many of their predecessors have gone on to join professional orchestras, including 22 who now play in the Concertgebouw Orchestra itself.

On 29 October, those different generations will come together on stage. Klaus Mäkelä will conduct an orchestra of current Academy members, alumni and former participants in Concertgebouw Orchestra Young. Two Academy alumni who are now principal players in the Concertgebouw Orchestra – principal clarinet Carlos Ferreira and principal viola Santa Vižine – will be the soloists in Bruch’s Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra. Aurel Dawidiuk, the orchestra’s first-ever associate conductor from 2024 to 2026, will conduct Grieg’s ‘Peer Gynt’ Suite No. 1 and play the organ in Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, the celebrated ‘Organ Symphony’.

From two Academy members to fourteen young talents each year

It began in 2001 with an idea and a committed donor. Thanks to a commemorative fund, the first two Academy members started a pilot season a year later. Since then, the Academy has grown into an internationally renowned training programme, where young musicians are trained in the orchestral profession. In recent years, fourteen Academy members have taken part each season.

Over the years, new programmes have been added. Every two years, Concertgebouw Orchestra Young offers a three-week summer programme for ‘hidden talents’ aged 14 to 17. Through the Ammodo Conducting Masterclass, the Bernard Haitink Associate Conductorship and the Young Composers Workshop, the Concertgebouw Orchestra also helps young musicians develop their talents further.

From the Academy to the orchestra

The Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra continues to open doors. At the start of this season, three members of the 2024–25 cohort joined the Concertgebouw Orchestra: violinist Valerie Schweighofer, violist Francisca Galante and cellist Pietro Silvestri. Francisca’s connection with the orchestra began even earlier: in 2019, she was principal viola in the first edition of Concertgebouw Orchestra Young.

New Academy members

In the 2026–27 season, these fourteen musicians will take part in the Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra:

• Giulia Cellacchi, Italy – violin
• Quintijn van Heek, Netherlands – violin
• Antonia Kreuzer, Germany – violin
• Mira Marton, Poland – violin
• Joshua Tavenier, Netherlands – violin
• Simona Collu, Italy – viola
• Aina Hujić, Spain – viola
• Ida Riedel, Germany – cello
• Jonny Hayward, Ireland – double bass
• Teresa De Broeck, Belgium/Portugal – flute
• Pijus Paškevičius, Lithuania – oboe
• Bastian Spier, Germany – horn
• Leandro Antunes, Portugal – trombone
• Matías Munín Giadáns, Spain – percussion