Fri 3 October 2025 • 20.15
PROGRAMME
conductor Luis Castillo-Briceño
organ Cameron Carpenter
piano Ralph van Raat
Samy Moussa (1984)
A Globe Itself Infolding for organ and orchestra (2014)
Dutch Premiere
Heather Pinkham (1989)
Nowhere and No-When for piano and orchestra (2018)
Dutch Premiere
• I.
• II.
intermission
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op. 78 ‘Organ Symphony’ (1886)
• Adagio – Allegro moderato –Poco adagio
• Allegro moderato – Presto –Maestoso – Allegro
concert ends at around 22.00
Organ pipes. Photo Greg Willson (Unsplash)
Most recent performances by our orchestra: Moussa A Globe Itself Infolding: first performance by our orchestra
Pinkham Nowhere and No-When: first performance by our orchestra
Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3: Nov 2018, organ
Geert Bierling, conductor Michel Plasson
One hour before the start of the concert, Bart de Graaf will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Paris in 1886, the year Saint-Saëns wrote his Symphony No.3. Painting by Vincent van Gogh, coll. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Earth, heaven and stars
In churches and cathedrals, the organ, king of musical instruments, brings us in contact with the heavenly. In concert halls, the symphony orchestra expresses the deepest thoughts of mortals. In this concert we bring these two worlds together, whilst the piano travels in exploration of the stars.
Spanning heaven and earth
Sammy Moussa, one of the great Canadian composers of his generation, melds the heavenly and the earthly in his 2016 work A Globe Itself Infolding. The work is inspired by the poetry of ‘pious critic of religion’ William Blake and the vision of the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel I:4-6 and 15-16). Blake describes in his epic poem Milton ‘a globe itself infolding, like a sun’ and Ezekiel had a vision of a ‘wheel within a wheel’.
In the first half of the piece the organ plays as an independent entity against the background of the orchestra, until, after a short cadenza, the two gradually come together. At the halfway point, the roles are reversed. ‘The organ initiates all impulses in the piece, but there is a certain ambiguity in the sound palette: one may wonder at any given moment whether the colour of the organ is mixing with that of the orchestra, or the other way around’, explains Moussa. The piece ends where it began, creating a loop that allows the music to resonate forever.
Message between the stars
Heather Pinkham, a Californian pianist, composer and musicologist now living in the Netherlands, fixed her gaze on the stars with
her piano concerto Nowhere and No-When composed in 2018. The work was written for Ralph van Raat, who as pianist and pilot enjoys to move between earth and sky. The composition is based on the Fermi paradox, which contrasts the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life with the apparently high likelihood of its existence. The piece, in two untitled movements, begins with the sound of the stars: a NASA recording of the light curve of one of Kepler’s stars, converted into audible sound. This signal is taken up by the piano soloist, and then imitated by timpani, flutes, clarinets and strings. The music then expands into its own sound world, in which the piano plays the role of explorer.
The second movement begins with the piano alone, symbolising the possibility within the Fermi paradox that we humans are entirely alone in the universe. The composer has hidden a coded message in this part of the work that, despite earnest efforts, the author of this programme has been unable to decipher.
Musical worlds merge
There was no great symphonic tradition in France when, in 1853, Camille Saint-Saëns
Stellar jet in the Carina Nebula, imaged by the Hubble Telescope. Photo NASA
– barely 18 years of age – composed his First Symphony. Perhaps French composers had always thought of it as too Germanic a musical form, ponderous and intellectual, unable to fit within the French ideal of lightness and clarity. If that was the case, Saint-Saëns’ debut symphony was like a swallow heralding a new spring. In just a few years he would have gone on to compose a series of French symphonies. About the same time, France was falling under the spell of Wagner’s intoxicating operas. Suddenly, German music no longer seemed to come from another planet. But the tide soon turned again. The FrancoPrussian war of 1870-71 was fuelling antiGerman sentiment. In 1871, Camille SaintSaëns founded the Société Nationale de Musique in order to promote French music. It seemed unlikely that he would ever write another symphony. But when in 1885 the London Philharmonic Society commissioned him to do exactly that, there were two reasons why he was ready to meet the challenge.
The Dies Irae theme explodes inside the concert hall triumphantly and joyfully: death has been conquered
Firstly, he had found himself sidelined in his own Société by a Wagnerian faction. By composing a truly French symphony, he would give them a taste of their own medicine. Secondly, he was experiencing a personal crisis. In 1878 his two sons both died: JeanFrançois of a childhood illness, and André by falling from a window. Saint-Saëns blamed his wife for the tragedy, and their marriage tore apart. The devastated composer recognised that a symphony could be an ideal vehicle for exploring his innermost feelings.
Death is therefore never far away in SaintSaëns’ Third Symphony. In fact, it opens the first movement. A solemn introduction is followed by a first theme that recalls the melody of the Dies Irae from the Roman Catholic requiem mass. And yet the music is predominantly triumphant. Rather than wallowing in death, Saint-Saëns celebrates the victory of life and dreams of the resurrection of the French symphony.
In his notes for the premiere, he therefore emphasises the innovative elements, such as the addition of two virtuoso piano parts and a prominent role for an organ – from which the symphony of course earned its name as the ‘Organ Symphony’. Also new was the cyclical character of the symphony. Because, although the symphony is divided into the traditional four movements, Saint-Saëns intended a two-part work with the first movement serving as an introduction for the Poco adagio whilst the scherzo formed a prelude to the Maestoso. The peaceful second and majestic fourth movements, that both incorporate the organ, constitute the focal point of the symphony, in which equilibrium wins out over turmoil. In the final movement, in particular, the organ plays the principal role: the Dies Irae theme that binds the movements together explodes inside the concert hall triumphantly and joyfully: death has been conquered.
Saint-Saëns was very happy with the result: ‘I gave everything that I was able to give. What I have accomplished with this work I will never achieve again.’ Shortly after the premiere of the Organ Symphony SaintSaëns’ friend Franz Liszt – leading light of the ‘Wagner camp’ - died. It was to this friend that Saint-Saëns dedicated his symphony. Not in mourning, but in celebration of Liszt’s life and work.
Alexander Klapwijk
Cameron Carpenter • organ
Born: Titusville PA, USA
Education: first piano and organ lessons at age five; organ at the Juilliard School of Music, New York; outside Juilliard piano with Miles Fusco and composition with Kendall Durelle Briggs
Breakthrough: 2009: Grammy Nomination, as first organist ever
Concerts: worldwide – notably in venues without an organ, bringing his own International Touring Organ
In ten words: ‘A fallen angel who gives the organ back its sin’ (Die Zeit)
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Luis Castillo-Briceño • conductor
Born: San José, Costa Rica
Education: violin, flute, piano and organ lessons, conducting studies with Christoph-Mathias Mueller and Johannes Schlaefli (Zurich University of the Arts) and with Mark Stringer (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
Awards: Forum Dirigieren Fellow 2024, BBC Music Magazine Rising Star 2023
Breakthrough: Grand Prix International
Conducting Competition Rotterdam 2025
Experience: London Philharmonic, Luxembourg
Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Ralph van Raat • piano
Born: Naarden, the Netherlands
Specialty: contemporary piano music – a fascination since turning 14
Education: piano at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and with Claude Helffer (Paris), Ursula Oppens (Chicago), Liisa Pohjola (Finland) and Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Cologne); musicology at the University of Amsterdam
Solo-appearances: Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2006
Photo: ICCR
Photo: Dovile Sermokas
Photo: Heather Pinkham
Musicians Agenda
Thu 9 October 2025 • 20.00 (!)
Sun 12 October 2025 • 14.15
conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
violin Daniel Lozakovich
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 ‘Leningrad’
Fri 17 October 2025 • 20.15
Sun 19 October 2025 • 14.15
conductor Kazuki Yamada
piano Alexandre Kantorow
Takemitsu How Slow the Wind
Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Egyptian’
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Music for Breakfast 1
Sun 26 October 2025 • 10.30
Dudok in het Park musicians and programme: rpho.nl/en
Thu 30 October 2025 • 20.15
Fri 31 October 2025 • 20.15
conductor Robin Ticciati
piano Yuja Wang
Haydn Chaos from The Creation Ligeti Piano Concerto Mahler Symphony No. 5
Harry Potter in Concert, part 1
Wed 12 November 2025 • 19.30
Thu 13 November 2025 • 19.30
Fri 14 November 2025 • 19.30
Sat 15 November 2025 • 19.30
Sun 16 November 2025 • 13.30
conductor Justin Freer
Williams Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, Concert Master
Vlad Stanculeasa, Concert Master
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Giulio Greci
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Gustaw Bafeltowski
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Killian White
Paul Stavridis
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/piccolo
Beatriz Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Freitas
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Adrián Martínez
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Martijn van Rijswijk
Timpani/ Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Harp
Albane Baron