2025 2026
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Luisi
Photo: Flemming Bo Jensen
Fabio Luisi
Dear audience
Welcome to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary season! From DR Koncerthuset, the power of live, symphonic music streams out to audiences and listeners in all of Denmark – stronger, more alive and more important than ever in this special season.
There is a world of difference between the sound of the first notes played on the radio in 1925 to the sound of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra today. Throughout the last 100 years, the orchestra has been in constant movement and development – like a living organism, growing and flowering in close contact with the world around it and lovingly passed on from musician to musician, in a constant interplay with audiences and listeners.
The orchestra kickstarted their anniversary year with a European tour, where critics acclaimed their “worldclass” playing after a concert in the Berliner Philharmonie. But the most enthusiastic and important accolades came from a renowned German newspaper, which wrote: “Here is a public broadcaster that takes its cultural mission seriously.”
This is praise that underlines the most important driving force of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, from its inception until today.
For the last century, we have created musical communities, built on democratic values, and remained a symbol of togetherness, connection and the deep art of listening.
Today, DR Koncerthuset houses a dynamic and versatile musical universe that reaches the entire population. Every day we strive to make music even more alive and accessible, not only to uplift the artform itself, but also each other, musicians and audiences alike.
I believe that music and art are vital necessities for us human beings. They expand our horizons and make life greater, richer – and more fun – than it would otherwise be. That is why all Danes must be able to experience live music, both in person and through the strong bonds created by our national media.
In a time marked by unrest and unpredictability, we need to be able to experience music in living, physical communities, now more than ever. As one of the musicians in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra remarks in this brochure, we need to experience, feel and share what is real. That is exactly what the DNSO wishes to do: to make music more alive and create moments that can be felt and remembered.
We are excited to get our anniversary season underway. This is a season that travels widely around the wonderful world of symphonic music, and where we do not just share every note with our valued audience in DR Koncerthuset, but also with audiences, listeners and viewers all over Denmark – and everyone that tunes in from abroad.
Long live music! Welcome to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary season!
Kim Bohr Chief Executive, DR Koncerthuset, Live Music and P2
Tango Jalousie 100 years
Talented young musicians join famous Danish soloists for a celebration of the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest musical hits of all time: Jacob Gade’s Tango Jalousie. Welcome to a concert filled to the brim with talent and joyous musicianship, featuring artists like Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Katrine Gislinge, Jonathan Swensen and six talented young musicians with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Michael Schønwandt.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MICHAEL SCHØNWANDT conductor
NIKOLAJ SZEPS-ZNAIDER violin
KATRINE GISLINGE piano
JONATHAN SWENSEN cello
Young talents from the Jacob Gade Talent Academy:
SELMA TEILMANN violin
OTILIA ZIELKE JOHANNSEN flute
JULIA PAMINA SMIT viola
ALEXANDER SHIRINYAN ROHDE cello
VALDEMAR WENZEL MOST piano
RUNE LEICHT LUND piano
Music by: GADE, BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS, BACH AND MOZART
Luisi & Beethoven’s Ninth
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Concert Choir and Fabio Luisi open the orchestra’s 100th anniversary season with Beethoven’s immense Symphony no. 9. A groundbreaking masterpiece and a strongly humanist vision of the future, it is known today around the world as a powerful tribute to humanity and to the fellowship between humans.
The symphony is so large and unique that Beethoven decided it would be his last. Not only is it twice the length of his other symphonies, it also transforms into a giant piece for chorus and soloists, where Beethoven lifts the music to new heights.
The immense choral finale has a resounding message for the future, commanding humanity to embrace brotherhood and make peace, to unite its powers and create a better world. No composer has influenced symphonic music to the same extent as Beethoven, and his Ninth Symphony with its ecstatic, optimistic hope for the future proves just that.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DANISH NATIONAL CONCERT CHOIR
FABIO LUISI conductor CLARA CECILIE THOMSEN sopranoo
MARIA SCHELLENBERG mezzo-sopranoo
ISSACHAH SAVAGE tenor
NICOLAI ELSBERG bass
BEETHOVEN Symphony no. 9
460, 410, 380, 290, 180, 110 kr.
Michael Schønwandt
Blomstedt & Bruckner’s Ninth
Thursday
Herbert Blomstedt has spent his whole life immersed in the music of Bruckner. Now, the 98-year-old conducting legend returns to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra with Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. The symphony is incomplete but nevertheless contains some of the most beautiful and gripping music that the great composer ever wrote.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HERBERT BLOMSTEDT conductor
BRUCKNER Symphony no. 9
“When Blomstedt conducts, the music comes forward in its purest form. It’s as if he’s in direct contact with the divine in the music.”
DITLEV DAMKJÆR double bass
Collon & the Jussen brothers
620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
The Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen are renowned the world over for their crystalline and energetic playing. Together they are the soloists in Felix Mendelssohn’s sparkling and melodious Concerto for Two Pianos. After the interval, conductor Nicolas Collon leads the orchestra in Schumann’s tempestuous Fourth Symphony.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
NICHOLAS COLLON conductor
LUCAS & ARTHUR JUSSEN pianos
LIL LACY
Aurōra (Danish 1st perf.)
MENDELSSOHN
Concerto for Two Pianos in E major SCHUMANN Symphony no. 4
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert. Read more on page 14
“The Danish National Symphony Orchestra has never played better. With Fabio Luisi as chief conductor, the orchestra has scarcely been stronger.”
POLITIKEN, 2025
Herbert Blomstedt Lucas & Arthur Jussen
Mälkki & Hilary Hahn
With her brilliant technique and intense musicality, Hilary Hahn is among the world’s leading violinists. This evening, she will premiere a new concerto by the Danish composer Søren Nils Eichberg. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Susanna Mälkki will pair the new piece with Sibelius’ Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, pieces that run the gamut from bright and refreshing to brooding and despairing.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor
HILARY HAHN violin
SØREN NILS EICHBERG
Violin Concerto (premiere)
SIBELIUS
Symphony no. 6
SIBELIUS
Symphony no. 7
26 September 2025
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert.
Read more on page 14
Heyward & The Fountains of Rome
Conductor Jonathon Heyward invites us to a musical tribute to Rome, the Eternal City! Respighi’s depictions of Rome’s grand fountains and characteristic pine forests are overflowing with orchestral colour and musical energy. Musical drama also awaits in Mozart’s stormy Piano Concerto no. 20. To start, composer Grace-Evangeline Mason beckons us into a remarkable fantasy world where anything can happen.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JONATHON HEYWARD conductor
YEOL EUM SON piano
GRACE-EVANGELINE MASON
The Imagined Forest MOZART
Piano Concerto no. 20
RESPIGHI
Fountains of Rome
RESPIGHI
Pines of Rome
“The flexibility of this orchestra is remarkable, and its relationship with Luisi seems very happy, almost playful (…) Here is a public broadcaster that takes its cultural mission seriously. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra are an enrichment to the European repertory, and their championing of contemporary music is exemplary.”
FRANKFURTER
ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, 2025
Hilary Hahn
Yeol Eum Son
Luisi & The Music of the Spheres
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
DANISH NATIONAL CONCERT CHOIR
FABIO LUISI conductor
THOMAS HAMPSON recitator
LOUISE MCCLELLAND soprano
CHRISTINA HERRESTHAL mezzo-soprano
SIDSEL AJA ERIKSON mezzo-soprano
LANGGAARD/ABRAHAMSEN
3 Pieces from Gitanjali Hymns SCHÖNBERG Ode to Napoleon
SCHÖNBERG
A Survivor from Warsaw
LANGGAARD
Music of the Spheres
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir and Fabio Luisi kick off the 100th anniversary festivities with Rued Langgaard’s otherworldly masterpiece Music of the Spheres, which the orchestra has previously performed at the BBC Proms.
With fluttering, atmospheric sonorities and an evocative “orchestra at a distance” – in addition to the large orchestra onstage –Langgaard creates a unique sense of time and space melting together in a transcendent musical experience.
More spherical sonorities follow in Hans Abrahamsen’s 3 Pieces from Gitanjali Hymns. Here, Abrahamsen has gone on a voyage of discovery through Langgaard’s Gitanjali Hymns, piano pieces in turn inspired by Indian poetry. With Abahamsen’s radiant orchestration, the sensuous and physical aspects of Langgaard’s hymns can come together in new and powerful ways.
The concert also gives an exciting preview of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s new, large-scale collaboration with the record label Deutsche Grammophon. Together with Fabio Luisi, they will shed new light on the complete orchestral works of Arnold Schoenberg. Tonight, they turn their attention to the Ode to Napoleon and A Survivor from Warsaw, both written against the backdrop of the Second World War, as powerful expressions of Schoenberg’s deeply held humanism.
Luisi & Mahler’s Eighth
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
DANISH NATIONAL CONCERT CHOIR
BBC SINGERS
COPENHAGEN ROYAL CHAPEL CHOIR
FABIO LUISI conductor
JACQUELYN WAGNER soprano
VALENTINA FARCAS soprano
LIV REDPATH soprano
WIEBKE LEHMKUHL mezzo-sopranoo
JASMIN ETEZADZADEH mezzo-sopranoo
DAVID BUTT PHILIP tenor
CHRISTOPH POHL baryton
DAVID STEFFENS bass
MAHLER
Symphony no. 8
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir and Fabio Luisi celebrate the orchestra’s 100th anniversary with Mahler’s enormous and powerful Symphony no. 8. “This is the greatest thing I have ever created,” Mahler said about his symphony, which reaches from the earth and into the highest spheres – written with immense power and tenderness for a giant orchestra and chorus.
The symphony opens in pure ecstasy, with the Pentecost hymn Veni, creator spiritus, where the Holy Spirit is summoned. But even as the music calls for great forces, there are just as many quiet, chamber musical passages, where overwhelming passages are transformed into music of tender reflection.
Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is music that traces a line from earth to the farthest reaches of the heavens, at once vast and intimate. It is music that depicts the unfathomable and
eternal with immense beauty and energy. A few days after he had finished the symphony, Mahler wrote to a friend: “Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound.”
To perform this gargantuan piece, three different choirs will join forces: the Danish National Concert Choir, the BBC Singers and the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir.
Luisi & Anne-Sophie Mutter
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FABIO LUISI conductor
ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER violin
BEETHOVEN
Violin Concerto BRAHMS Symphony no. 2
6 November 2025
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert. Read more on page 14
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra continues the celebration of its 100th anniversary with one of the greatest stars in classical music: violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, soloist in Beethoven’s immortal Violin Concerto
For nearly 50 years, Mutter has been one of the world’s top violinists, known for her fullness of sound and versatile technique. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is among her favourite works, which she has recorded three times, with, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic.
Brahms wrote some of his most beautiful melodies for his Symphony no. 2, containing both idyl and triumph, but not without a touch of melancholy. Even though he had a melancholy side, it only comes to the surface occasionally in his second symphony. Even though sombre timpani and trombones lurk in the background, they are only a cloud on this symphony’s otherwise clear, blue summer skies. With beautiful melodies and a joyous finale, it is as if the orchestra is bathed in sunlight.
The concert will be repeated in Musikhuset Aarhus on 8 November 2025.
In Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, lyrical and intense melodies take on symphonic proportions. The slowly unfurling slow movement contains some of classical music’s most tender and beautiful moments, and there is hardly anything more life-affirming than the dancing final movement. Thursday 6 November
T3 F1 850, 775, 650, 540, 400, 290 kr.
Jonas Kaufmann & the Danish National Symphony Orchestra
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JOCHEN RIEDER conductor
JONAS KAUFMANN tenor
Experience the sheer vocal prowess and charisma of Jonas Kaufmann, “the world’s greatest tenor” (The Telegraph), in his long-awaited Copenhagen debut! Hailed as one of the world’s most significant and versatile singers of his generation, the Austrian-German tenor’s ability to combine technical perfection and emotional depth makes him one of the world’s most sought-after singers.
Jonas Kaufmann has been on the stages of every leading opera house, from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to London’s Royal Opera and the Wiener Staatsoper. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including at the Echo Klassik and the International Opera Awards. Through his impressive career, which spans several decades, he has appeared in over 70 different operas.
For this concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Jonas Kaufmann will present a full Puccini programme. This will
be a rare opportunity to experience his famed voice in roles like Cavaradossi in Tosca, and not least Calaf in Turandot, with the greatest tenor hit of them all: Nessun dorma.
Meet the musicians after the concert
Do you want to get a closer look at the musicians of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and experience them playing in a more intimate setting?
After several of the orchestra’s concerts, you can choose to stay in the foyer for a half-hour ‘Extranummer’, where a small group of musicians will play chamber music in an informal setting.
During ‘Extranummer’, the bar is open, the light is dimmed, and the musicians have put together the programme themselves, and talk about the music.
‘Extranummer’ takes place in the foyer of DR Koncerthuset after selected concerts and is included in the price of the concert ticket. Information about the programme and musicians will be available before the concert.
COLLON & THE JUSSEN BROTHERS
Thursday 18 September 2025
MÄLKKI & HILARY HAHN
Friday 26 September 2025
LUISI & ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER
Thursday 6 November 2025
SOKHIEV & BEETHOVEN’S SIXTH
Friday 19 December 2025
MENA & MOZART
Thursday 26 March 2026
EUN SUN KIM & DVOŘÁK’S EIGHTH
Thursday 9 April 2026
MANACORDA, ANDSNES & BEETHOVEN
Friday 1 May 2026
Sigurd & The Symphony Orchestra
SIGURD BARRETT narrator
Sigurd Barrett returns to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra to share his great love of the music that has followed him his whole life.
Thousands of children and parents have learnt to know and love classical music thanks to the all-round artist Sigurd Barrett. With warmth and enthusiasm, he has welcomed generations of Danes into the world of music in his own, special way.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Sigurd now returns to the orchestra to share memories, experiences and emotions from every era of symphonic music – and from the
instruments, who can become our very best friends.
The stage of DR Koncerthuset will be filled to the brim with large and small musicians, for in addition to Sigurd and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Children’s Choir will perform, along with a handful of musical children and their instrument friends.
Never standing still
The sound of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra has been created by generations of musicians who, in the course of a century, have shaped the personality of the ensemble.We have spoken with two of the musicians about the life and spirit of the orchestra.
100 years is a long time. But a direct, musical line passes through the century long history of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, through the generations of musicians that have created the sound of the orchestra.
When violinist Helle Hanskov Palm was accepted into the orchestra as a 24-year-old, there were musicians in the orchestra who had been playing there since the 1930s. Today she is the longest-sitting member and recently celebrated 40 years with the orchestra.
“It was a completely different orchestra I entered back then. We had some true originals among the musicians, who had all sorts of backgrounds. And there was only one other woman with the first violins,” she explains.
“In the very first break of my first day, an older concertmaster came and sat with me in the cafeteria, and I couldn’t understand a single word of what he was saying. It later transpired that he was an expert at talking gibberish. He was just trying to test me,” she smiles, and continues: “That sort of thing wouldn’t happen today, but there’s still room for funny comments. On the other hand, the discipline has completely changed. Back then, people would say that Monday rehearsals were never good because the musicians weren’t prepared. That simply wouldn’t
happen today. We’re all super prepared for the first rehearsal on Monday morning!”
One of Helle Hanskov Palm’s newest colleagues, 31-year-old Kern Westberg, agrees: “The Danish National Symphony Orchestra is the most well-prepared orchestra I’ve ever played in. That way, we’re ready to adjust at once, if we have a conductor with new ideas. Rehearsals happen at a very high pace,” he says.
For Helle Hanskov Palm, the spirit of the old days still remains in the orchestra.
We have always been with many strong personalities, and with quite a large freedom of expression.
HELLE HANSKOV PALM
“We have always been with many strong personalities, and with quite a large freedom of expression, both musically and as people. It’s probably something particularly Danish. We’re
not as afraid of authority figures as many people from other cultures. I think you can hear that in our sound, both in old recordings and today. There’s an edge and playfulness that shines through in the music.”
The older generations still influence the sound of the orchestra, Helle Hanskov Palm explains: “Of course, the orchestra has been developing through the years, but I think there’s a core in our playing that has remained unchanged. Especially when we play the symphonies of Nielsen, which we have played all throughout the life of the orchestra – ever since Nielsen himself conducted them in the 1930s. We have a completely unique tradition, which has survived from musician to musician through the years – even with different conductors.”
Kern Westerberg continues: “As a new player, it makes a strong impression when you get handed sheet music full of notes and symbols from earlier players. But I still think there’s a great openness and curiosity in the orchestra when presented with new ideas. No one has told me ‘this is how we do it here’,” he says.
“Overall, I find our orchestra extremely caring. You can really feel that as a new player, that everyone really gets along. That means that you can bring your own suggestions without being scared of making mistakes.”
For Kern Westerberg, there’s a special dynamic between the orchestra as a unit and the individual musicians:
I think we carry a common heritage as an orchestra. It’s like an organism that lives on, even if the individual cells get renewed.
KERN WESTERBERG
“I think we carry a common heritage as an orchestra. It’s like an organism that lives on, even if the individual cells get renewed. Every musician comes into this organism and is bombarded with impressions from their colleagues. At the same time, you have your own ideas, and in that way the wheel keeps rolling through the generations.”
The two violinists agree that Fabio Luisi has transformed the orchestra in his eight years as chief conductor.
“Luisi has made all of us open our ears, made us more conscious,” says Helle Hanskov Palm. “His goal is that we play at our best all the time, and that’s great for us musicians, because that’s what we want as well. If you start relaxing too much, the music loses its intensity – what Luisi demands of us makes the entire orchestra more focussed.”
We’re all very conscious that we need to maintain an edge and a personality in the orchestra’s playing.
KERN WESTERBERG
Kern Westerberg adds: “We always work on creating the most beautiful orchestral sound possible with Luisi. But at the same time, we’re all very conscious that we need to maintain an edge and a personality in the orchestra’s playing. Every single musician has to do their utmost to make the music touch the audience.”
When the two violinists look ahead, they
have no doubts about the importance of holding on to the characteristics of the orchestra in an ever more global world.
As a musician who hopefully has many decades ahead of him in the orchestra, Kern Westerberg says: “I fear that all orchestras will sound more like each other in the future, and that it will be more difficult to tell different musical traditions apart. So I really hope that we can hold on to our sound and our expression here in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra well into the future, in the same way I think we do now. The music is always the most important thing.”
Helle Hanskov Palm og Kern Westerberg
Kern Westerberg
Elim Chan & Shostakovich
Fröst & The Swedish Chamber Orchestra Sokhiev & Beethoven’s Sixth
620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
An evening full of contrasts with conductor Elim Chan and pianist Kirill Gerstein, soloist in Brahms’ powerful Piano Concerto no. 1. Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 9 fizzes with musical humour and irony, written with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ELIM CHAN conductor
KIRILL GERSTEIN piano
BRAHMS
Piano Concerto no. 1
SCHUBERT
Entr’acte no. 3
SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony no. 9
There is an enormous energy in the strong, dancing rhythms of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. At this evening’s concert with The Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Martin Fröst, the famous symphony will dance away with Mozart’s famed Clarinet Concerto.
THE SWEDISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
MARTIN FRÖST clarinet & conductor
MOZART
Clarinet Concerto
BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 7
In his well-known and well-loved Pastoral Symphony, Beethoven praises nature in all its beauty and power, while Stravinsky turns his gaze upwards in his Symphony of Psalms. The graceful conductor Tugan Sokhiev leads the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir in these two, deeply human pieces.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
DANISH NATIONAL CONCERT CHOIR
TUGAN SOKHIEV conductor
BRITTEN
Simple Symphony STRAVINSKY
Symphony of Psalms BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 6, Pastoral
19 December 2025
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert. Read more on page 14
“Tugan Sokhiev is a phenomeal conductor. He is totally centred in the music with a deep understanding of its core.” AUDUN HALVORSEN First solo bassoon
Photo:
Simon Pauly, Mats
Bäcker, Marc Brenner, Agnete
Schlichtkrull
L 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
T3 F2 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
T1
Elim Chan Martin Fröst
Tugan Sokhiev
New Year’s Gala 2025
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
CHRISTIAN ØLAND conductor
ANNA AGAFIA EGHOLM violin
RASMUS BOTOFT host
Music by: GRIEG, NIELSEN, GADE, SIBELIUS, LUMBYE AND OTHERS.
In time-honoured fashion, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra invites you to a fabulously festive New Year’s Gala at the Copenhagen Concert Hall, with tasty canapés, bubbles and musical New Year’s treats. The theme for this year is “Nordic New Year”, with the atmospheric sounds of the Nordic winter, as well as familiar, sparkling New Year’s tunes, sure to make any champagne cork pop, all conducted by Christian Øland.
Our soloist is the young Danish star violinist Anna Agafia Egholm, who will play such pieces as Jacob Gade’s famous Tango Jalousie, and the Norwegian Johan Svendsen’s enchanting Romance. This year’s host is actor
Rasmus Botoft, known from several Danish films and TV programmes.
Gardner & Szeps-Znaider
No one wrote music of such great emotion and beautiful harmony like Rachmaninov. His third symphony opens almost secretively and finishes in a radiant finale that uses every colour in the modern orchestral palette. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is the soloist in Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto, overflowing with irresistible melody.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
EDWARD GARDNER conductor
NIKOLAJ SZEPS-ZNAIDER violin
HELEN GRIME
Near Midnight BRUCH
Violin Concerto RACHMANINOV
Symphony no. 3
Matvienko & Tchaikovsky Søndergård & Ravel
In Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony , the main character must overcome his inner demons, haunted by his own past and the memory of his lost love. Conductor and Malko-winner Dmitry Matvienko tackles the highly dramatic music with great force, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s own solo harpist Zachary Hatcher is the soloist in Glière’s melodic Harp Concerto.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
DMITRY MATVIENKO conductor ZACHARY HATCHER harp
GLIÈRE
Harp Concerto TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony T3
“I always love playing under Matvienko; he’s incredibly energetic and inspiring. And it’s great to have a soloist from our own ranks.”
ELNA CARR Third Concertmaster
Follow the day’s journey into night, until the break of dawn, from Lili Boulanger’s bustling spring morning to the warm summer nights of Hector Berlioz. Szymanowski’s Third Symphony celebrates the beauty and mystery of the night, with inspiration from ancient Persian poetry, and finally, one of the most beautiful sunrises in music history in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
DANISH NATIONAL CONCERT CHOIR
THOMAS SØNDERGÅRD conductor BETH TAYLOR mezzo-sopranoo
LILI BOULANGER D’un matin de printemps BERLIOZ
Les nuits d’été
SZYMANOWSKI
Symphony no. 3, Song of the Night RAVEL
Suite no. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé
“The Danish National Symphony Orchestra played brilliantly, with rhythmical energy and beautiful transparency. It was close to perfection.”
BERLINGSKE, 2024
Photo:
Benjamin Ealovega, Kim M. Leland, PR foto, Trond
Gudevold, Agnete
Schlichtkrull
Edward Gardner Zachary Hatcher
Beth Taylor
Hermus & Wagner De la Parra & The Rite of Spring
Thursday 29 January 2026 7.30 pm Friday 30 January 2026 7.30 pm
T1 F1 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
Great drama and even greater contrasts characterise this concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Antony Hermus. Haydn’s philosophical and playful Symphony no. 22 goes straight into the high-wire coloratura comedy of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre. Wagner’s Ring follows in a powerful, symphonic version.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ANTONY HERMUS conductor
EIR INDERHAUG soprano
HAYDN
Symphony no. 22, The Philosopher LIGETI
Mysteries of the Macabre, from Le grand Macabre
WAGNER/DE VLIEGER
The Ring – An Orchestral Adventure
“The Rite’ is one of my favourite pieces, because there’s so much energy and insanity from start to finish. Everyone in the orchestra needs complete focus because the music is so intense.”
MICHAEL FRANK First solo trumpet
Thursday 5 February 2026 7.30 pm
T2 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
A concert that passes from one macabre party to another: Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra leads the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s wild and captivating Rite of Spring, and the orchestra premieres a suite from English composer Marc-Anthony Turnage’s new opera based on Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s solo cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen provides reconciliation and beauty in Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ALONDRA DE LA PARRA conductor
HENRIK DAM THOMSEN cello
TURNAGE
Symphonic Suite from Festen (premiere) ELGAR
Cello Concerto
STRAVINSKY
The Rite of Spring
Eir Inderhaug
Pulsar Festival 2026, Opening Concert
Saraste & Bluebeard’s Castle Kochanovsky & Strauss
Free entry
The National Danish Symphony Orchestra open The Royal Danish Academy of Music’s PULSAR Festival 2026 in the Concert Hall of the Academy. The orchestra will premiere new works by young, up-and-coming composers alongside a modern orchestral piece by a well-known composer.
Stanislav Kochanovsky
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Performers and programme will be announced in early 2026.
Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste has put together a programme that depicts humanity’s passionate embrace of our inner demons. Behind the doors in Bluebeard’s Castle unknown treasures and immeasurable tragedy hides, while Sibelius escaped the greatest crisis of his life through his fourth symphony.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JUKKA-PEKKA SARASTE conductor
DOROTTYA LÁNG mezzo-sopranoo MIKLÓS SEBESTYÉN bass
BARTÓK
Bluebeard’s Castle
SIBELIUS
Symphony no. 4
Conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky has curated an atmospheric programme with two of the orchestra’s own soloists in front. Bruch’s beautiful Concerto for Clarinet and Viola often quotes the melancholy Swedish folk song “Ack, Värmeland du sköna”, while Rachmaninov steers towards The Isle of the Dead with muted orchestral colours. In Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, life passes through our minds, heading towards a heavenly transfiguration.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
STANISLAV KOCHANOVSKY conductor
JOHNNY TEYSSIER clarinet MICHAEL GROLID viola
BRUCH
Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola RACHMANINOV Isle of the Dead STRAUSS
Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung)
“The Danish National Symphony Orchestra are playing on a world-class level. We look forward to another 100 years”
Dorottya Láng
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Mena & Mozart
Georgian star pianist Khatia Buniatishvili returns to DR Koncerthuset, this time as the soloist in Brahms’ dramatic Second Piano Concerto, together with the Swiss top ensemble Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor Jonathan Nott brings out the contrasts in Ibert’s colourful travelogue Escales and in Ravel’s seductive Boléro.
The early Classical composer Juan Arriaga is often referred to as “the Spanish Mozart” – a gifted composer who died in 1826, only 20 years old. Conductor Juanjo Mena has selected two beautiful vocal works alongside Ravel’s sensuous and heady waltzes and Mozart’s vibrant Haffner Symphony.
Eun Sun Kim & Dvořák’s Eighth
Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony is a bright and exuberant tribute to life and nature, with beautiful melodies inspired by Bohemian folk music. Conductor Eun Sun Kim has been called “a major star” by the New York Times, and here she conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s own concertmaster Soo-Jin Hong in Felix Mendelssohn’s popular and tempestuous Violin Concerto.
ORCHESTRE DE LA SUISSE ROMANDE
JONATHAN NOTT conductor
KHATIA BUNIATISHVILI piano
BRAHMS
Piano Concerto no. 2
IBERT
Escales
RAVEL
Boléro
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JUANJO MENA conductor
BERIT NORBAKKEN soprano
RAVEL
Valses nobles et sentimentales
ARRIAGA
Herminie
ARRIAGA
Aria from the opera Médée
MOZART
Symphony no. 35, Haffner
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert. Read more on page 14
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
EUN SUN KIM conductor
SOO-JIN HONG violin
MARIA THERESIA VON PARADIS
Overture from Der Schulkandidat MENDELSSOHN
Violin Concerto DVOŘÁK
Symphony no. 8
9 April 2026
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert. Read more on page 14
“Luisi has the ability of making his orchestra sound like a hyper-sensitive organism from the very first downbeat”
T1
F1
Khatia Buniatishvili
Juanjo Mena
Eun Sun Kim
Luisi & Pelléas and Mélisande
Friday 24 April 2026 7.30 pm
Saturday 25 April 2026 2.00 pm
F2 L 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
The story of Pelléas and Mélisande is among the greatest love stories in literature, alongside Romeo and Juliet, and Tristan and Isolde. Schoenberg’s tone poem sets fleeting kisses and ominous warnings for large orchestra, with its limitless tonal colours and captivating sensuousness.
The unhappy lovers Pelléas and Mélisande have been a favourite subject for composers, most famously in Claude Debussy’s opera with the same name. But Schoenberg takes the larger-than-life emotions to the edge with his enormous orchestra and overwhelmingly beautiful music, leaving no listener unmoved.
Unhappy love also forms the backdrop of the concert opener, Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder. The longing, soulful texts were written by Mathilde Wesendonck, and the five songs point the way forward towards Wagner’s most beautiful and most tragic love story, Tristan and Isolde.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
FABIO LUISI conductor
SARA JAKUBIAK soprano
WAGNER
Wesendonck-Lieder
SCHOENBERG
Pelléas og Mélisande
Chief conductor Fabio Luisi is a great admirer of composer Arnold Schoenberg. In this and coming seasons, he and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra will perform many of his key orchestral works, in conjunction with Schoenberg’s complete orchestral music being recorded for the record label Deutsche Grammophon.
“Arnold Schoenberg is one of the most original artists in the history of music. His music is of great historical importance, but also deeply personal and universal,” says Fabio Luisi. He is convinced that this music can gain a wide audience: “There are many prejudices surrounding the music of Schoenberg, but if we listen to a work like Pelleas und Melisande with an open mind, it becomes clear that it was written in the great, Romantic tradition of Wagner.”
Luisi thinks it is vital to regard Schoenberg’s life work as a whole, instead of only focussing on his atonal period: “Only by seeing Schönberg as an artist and a person in constant movement, can we see his extraordinary development,” he says, and continues: “It has been my dream for many years to showcase the beauty and importance of Schoenberg’s music to a larger audience, and I am looking forward immensely to this large recording project with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Detusche Grammophon.”
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra’s recordings of the complete orchestral works of Arnold Schoenberg will be released in the period 2026-2030.
Monika Rittershaus, Helge Hansen/Sony Music Entertainment
Manacorda, Andsnes & Beethoven
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ANTONELLO MANACORDA conductor
LEIF OVE ANDSNES piano
BEETHOVEN
Corolian Overture
BEETHOVEN
Piano Concerto no. 3
BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 5
1 May 2026
Extranummer in the foyer after the concert.
Read more on page 14
An evening of triple Beethoven with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, star pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and conductor Antonello Manacorda – from the intense Coriolan Overture to the dramatic and fateful Symphony no. 5.
The key of C minor was a key of great drama for Beethoven, and this evening C minor runs as a tempestuous common thread through the programme. In the Fifth Symphony, fate itself knocks on the door, in a piece of great energy and searing intensity, until the darkness at last is overcome, the piece ending in joyous triumph.
In the overture to the tragedy Coriolan, a frightful storm is brewing from the first note. The rebellious general Coriolan has joined forces with the enemy and wants to invade Rome, while his mother is pleading with him to lay the weapons down. Beethoven pits the lust for power and the desire for peace against one another in a musical battle of life and death.
Also the Piano Concerto no. 3 opens on a sombre and mysterious note, with the largescale musical drama launched by the virtuosic solo part.
The Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes has received particular acclaim for his Beethoven interpretations, with his precise articulation and extraordinary musicality, described by The Guardian as “poetic sensitivity” and “a deep musical understanding” in The New York Times.
Leif Ove Andsnes
Esa-Pekka Salonen & Turangalîla
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN conductor
BERTRAND CHAMAYOU piano
CÉCILE LARTIGAU ondes martenot
MESSIAEN Turangalîla
The French composer Olivier Messiaen called his Turangalîla Symphony a “love song, hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death”. Along with an expanded orchestra, the Finnish star conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will unleash musical forces of almost cosmical proportions in this enigmatic masterpiece, loved by orchestras and audiences alike, all over the world.
Turangalîla is a piece that has everything. Inspired by both sacred writings and the mediaeval story of Tristand and Isolde, the symphony is in equal parts intoxicating and seductive, frightening and beautiful. With its intensely colourful orchestration, full battery of percussion, virtuoso piano part and the electronic Ondes Martenot, it is without equal in the history of music.
Composer Olivier Messiaen was deeply religious, and there is a particular spirituality to his music. It often takes on an almost overwhelming sensuality and sensuousness, with the throes of ecstasy never far away – certainly the case in the Turangalîla Symphony.
Hasan, Strauss & Mozart Honeck & Liszt
T2 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
Remarkable orchestral writing bookends this concert, with Richard Strauss’ violent and seductive Dance of the Seven Veils and the sumptuous orchestral fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten – an opera that explores what it really means to be human. In Mozart’s Symphony no. 29, the elegance of chamber music meets fiery, orchestral verve.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KEREM HASAN conductor MAO FUJITA piano
STRAUSS
Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome MOZART
Piano Concerto no. 21, “Elvira Madigan” MOZART
Symphony no. 29
STRAUSS
Symphonic Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten
“Turangalîla is an immensely powerful work. It will be fabulous to play this with Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is a great artist and virtuoso conductor.”
ASTRID CHRISTENSEN viola
Beethoven set out to conquer the world with his music, and already in his First Symphony, he was well on his way. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, Liszt describes the entire cosmos, from Hell and Purgatory all the way up to the angels singing in Paradise – music that shows Liszt from his most dramatic and poignant side.
DANISH NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA COPENHAGEN ROYAL CHAPEL CHOIR
MANFRED HONECK conductor
BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 1 LISZT
Dante Symphony
T3 F2 620, 580, 520, 420, 300, 190 kr.
Kerem Hasan Manfred Honeck
A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond Til Almene Formaal, Augustinus Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie CarlNielsens Legat, Beckett-Fonden, Sportgoodsfonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Axel Muusfeldts Fond, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Gangstedfonden, Venneforeningen for DR’s Kor og Orkestre
FABIO LUISI Chief Conductor
KIM BOHR Chief Executive, Koncerthuset, Live Music and P2
TATJANA KANDEL Head of Artistic Planning
MICHAEL AABERG THOMSEN Head of the DNSO’s musicians
CECILIE ROSENMEIER Editor LEA STRÖMGREN Editor
JESS JENSEN & CARINA SCHWAKE Design and layout
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Cover photo: Christian Larsen
Back photo: Sisse Strøyer