Christmas Matinee: Klaus Mäkelä
Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, Richard Wagner and Unsuk Chin
Future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas Matinee concert, featuring Wagner’s Siegfried-Idyll, Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, which marked the first time Mäkelä and the orchestra got acquainted, back in 2020.
The lifeblood of this autobiographical work is a lovely violin solo.
Concert programme
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Unsuk Chin
subito con forza (commission)
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Richard Wagner
Siegfried-Idyll
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-- interval --
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Richard Strauss
Ein Heldenleben
Performers
About this concert
The chief conductor has traditionally led the orchestra in the Christmas Matinee – and now its future chief conductor, Klaus Mäkelä, assumes that role, leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a programme based on the theme of love. Wagner surprised his wife Cosima with the ‘Siegfried-Idyll’ on Christmas Day, 1870. Marital love also inspired Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, which he dedicated to the Concertgebouw Orchestra: the lifeblood of this autobiographical work is a lovely violin solo representing the hero’s life partner.
Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza is a declaration of love for the music of Beethoven. It was with this same work that Klaus Mäkelä opened the programme he conducted on his Concertgebouw Orchestra debut in September 2020, when sparks between maestro and orchestra first flew. The performance took place during the coronavirus pandemic in the presence of a small audience. Now it’s time to perform the work again and to share their mutual affection with the entire world, thanks to radio and television.
Dates and tickets
About this concert
The chief conductor has traditionally led the orchestra in the Christmas Matinee – and now its future chief conductor, Klaus Mäkelä, assumes that role, leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra in a programme based on the theme of love. Wagner surprised his wife Cosima with the ‘Siegfried-Idyll’ on Christmas Day, 1870. Marital love also inspired Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, which he dedicated to the Concertgebouw Orchestra: the lifeblood of this autobiographical work is a lovely violin solo representing the hero’s life partner.
Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza is a declaration of love for the music of Beethoven. It was with this same work that Klaus Mäkelä opened the programme he conducted on his Concertgebouw Orchestra debut in September 2020, when sparks between maestro and orchestra first flew. The performance took place during the coronavirus pandemic in the presence of a small audience. Now it’s time to perform the work again and to share their mutual affection with the entire world, thanks to radio and television.