Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

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The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Dutch: Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, KCO) is the best-known and most respected symphonic orchestra in the Netherlands, and is generally considered to be among the world's finest orchestras. It is named after the Concertgebouw (Dutch for "concert hall") in Amsterdam in which it gives its concerts. Its "Royal" title was conferred upon it in 1988 by Queen Beatrix.

The Concertgebouw opened on April 11, 1888. The Concertgebouw Orchestra, however, was not founded until a little later. It gave its first concert in the Concertgebouw on November 3, 1888 under the principal conductor for its first seven years, Willem Kes.

In 1895, Willem Mengelberg became chief conductor and remained in this position with the organization for fifty years, an unusually long tenure for a music director.^[1] He is generally regarded as having brought the orchestra to a level of major international significance, with a particular championing of such then-contemporary composers as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.

For approximately its first 75 years, the Concertgebouw Orchestra had a somewhat complicated roster of conductors. In addition to the chief conductor, the orchestra had what were called a 'first conductor' (eerste dirigent), who assisted the chief conductor with programming, and a 'second conductor' (tweede dirigent), who did "what he was told".^[2] During Mengelberg's time as chief conductor, several of these 'first conductors' included Karl Muck (1921-1925), Pierre Monteux (1924-1934), Bruno Walter (1934-1939), and Eugen Jochum (1941-1943). Musicians who served as 'second conductors' of the orchestra included the composer Cornelis Dopper, Evert Cornelis and Eduard van Beinum.

In 1945, because of the controversy over his relationship with the Nazi occupying forces during the Dutch occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, Mengelberg was removed from the chief conductorship of the orchestra and banned from conducting. The ban was initially imposed for the remainder of his life, but after an appeal, was reduced to six years, applied retroactively to 1945. Mengelberg died in 1951 just before the end of his scheduled exile, and so he had never conducted the orchestra again after 1945.

From 1945 to 1959, the orchestra's principal conductor was Eduard van Beinum, who had debuted with the orchestra in 1929. He became the 'second conductor' of the orchestra in 1931, and co-principal conductor in 1938. One of his specialities was the symphonies of Anton Bruckner, and Van Beinum made commercial recordings with the orchestra of Bruckner's Eighth and Ninth Symphonies for the Philips label. Van Beinum served as sole chief conductor of the orchestra after World War II until his sudden death on the Concertgebouw podium from a fatal heart attack in April 1959.

Bernard Haitink made his debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra on November 7, 1956, and after van Beinum's death, became 'first conductor' in September 1959. In 1961, Haitink and Eugen Jochum then worked with the orchestra as joint chief conductors. Haitink became sole chief conductor in 1963 (some accounts have said 1964) of the orchestra until 1988. At some point during Haitink's time, the conductor system was simplified to have an assistant conductor instead of 'first' and 'second' conductors. Conductors who served in this capacity included Edo de Waart and Hans Vonk. The recording profile of the orchestra increased most dramatically under Haitink, with many recordings for the Philips label, as well as EMI and Columbia (later Sony). In 1999, Haitink was named Conductor Laureate of the KCO.

Riccardo Chailly made his debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1985, and served as chief conductor from 1988 to 2004, as the first non-Dutchman to hold the post. His recordings with the orchestra include a complete Mahler symphony cycle, several of the Bruckner symphonies, shorter works of Shostakovich, the complete Kammermusiken of Paul Hindemith, and the orchestral works of Edgard Varese. After his departure in 2004, Chailly was named Conductor Emeritus of the KCO. In 2004, he was succeeded by the Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, who made his KCO debut in 1988. As of February 2007, there has been no announcement of what will happen beyond the initial term of Jansons' first 3-year contract as the KCO's chief conductor.

The orchestra enjoyed a close relationship with Gustav Mahler and championed many of his symphonies, with an especially worthy festival of his music being the 1920 Mahler Festival.^[3] Other conductors who worked closely with the Concertgebouw Orchestra included George Szell and Kiril Kondrashin. More recently, Nikolaus Harnoncourt was named Honorary Guest Conductor of the KCO in 2000.

Uniquely among orchestras of this caliber and age, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has had only six chief conductors, which has been yet another factor in creating the orchestra's distinct character. With what has been described (from its website English biography) as its ‘velvet’ strings, the ‘golden’ brass sound and the exceptional timbre of the woodwinds, sometimes described as ‘typically Dutch’, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has won itself a place amongst the small, select group of top world orchestras]].^[4] The nearly one thousand recordings that the orchestra has to its credit have also contributed to this reputation.

Past artistic directors of the Concertgebouw Orchestra have included Rudolf Mengelberg, Marius Flothuis, and Peter Ruzicka. Currently, the executive director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is Jan Willem Loot.

Recently, the KCO has begun to issue CDs on its own label, RCO Live, as conducted by Jansons^[5]^[6] and Haitink.^[7]