RCO Corporate nov 2017

year 4 - number 7 - november 2017

onderschrift?

Stunning season opener with star soprano Diana Damrau In the presence of all the orchestra’s

tra in a number of Mozart arias. After

Following the concert, audience mem-

business club De Salon and young pro-

Dvor ák’s Symphony No. 8, and Damrau

the musicians, Maestro Hengelbrock and

corporate partners, members of its

fessionals from corporates including

ING, Unilever, Accenture and PwC, the RCO kicked off its new concert season

in a festive atmosphere with the RCO

Opening Night on September 14. Her Majesty Queen Máxima, the orchestra’s patron, was also in attendance.

the interval, the programme featured returned to the stage to perform the very

fitting ‘Glitter and Be Gay’ from Leonard

Bernstein’s Candide as an encore, all under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock, chief

conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg.

bers were given the opportunity to meet Diana Damrau in the foyers. The evening concluded with an RCO Lounge afterparty in the Recital Hall.

Needless to say, expectations are high

for next season. Bring on RCO Opening Night 2018 on September 14!

Before the concert, an exclusive reception

for Salon members was held in the Recital Hall, completely transformed for the occasion, during which rising star soprano Laetitia Gerards, accompanied by current

and former members of the RCO Academy,

gave a live preview of the evening’s concert programme.

After the walking dinner in various foy-

ers of The Concertgebouw, the concert in the Main Hall got under way with the

Overture of Don Giovanni. Diana Damrau then starred in her first appearance with the Royal Concertgebouw Orches-

Unilever and ING, global partners of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From left to right: Jan Zijderveld (President of Unilever Europe), Her Majesty Queen Máxima, Ralph Hamers (CEO of ING) and Jan Raes (Managing Director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra).

1

De Salon - Revisited Founded in 2004, De Salon is the business

variety of events for specific target groups

concerts allow us to meet the needs of

Orchestra (RCO). Having started out as a

agement and executive officers. The Royal

companies the perfect opportunity to let

club

of

the

Royal

Concertgebouw

business circle for young professionals, it has since grown to become a network of leading companies and professionals.

‘We’re

proud

to

count

so

many

important corporate players among our

most committed partners,’ says Marc Bakker, board member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Stichting Donateurs.

In today’s rapidly changing world, it’s important to be agile, and that goes for De

Salon as well. But these days, that’s not enough: staying one step ahead and be-

ing innovative is essential. That’s why the

ranging from young professionals to manConcertgebouw Orchestra believes in being

relevant to the corporate community at every level. The newly revisited privileg-

es continue to give Salon members access to several exclusive networking events Crossover Evening and a regular concert.

meet the musicians.

of the year attended by all the movers and

Charlie dos Reis Borges Rodrigues,

shakers of the Dutch corporate sector, and one Essentials concert and correspond-

ing RCO Lounge. Designed particularly for young professionals, the Essentials

in the future. During this process, Salon members were regularly asked to provide feedback, and a number of components

were evaluated in terms of their added val-

ue. Members provided insight, and were open and honest about their experiences with De Salon. The exchange has resulted

in greater focus and a clearer mission and vision for De Salon and its privileges.

One significant improvement is that the

privileges De Salon offers now consist of a

New Salon members This season, we are welcoming the following new Salon members: the Korn Ferry and Boontje Advocaten.

Meanwhile, a number of businesses have renewed their Salon membership.

EY and Intertrust are among those the

up-close the magic of the orchestra and

If you would like more information or

opener RCO Opening Night, the gala event

lon is structurally ensured and enhanced

support

individual levels, and in doing so, witness

De Salon has added the orchestra’s season

beginning of 2017 so the relevance of De Sa-

to

all their employees network at their own

each year such as the Prix de Salon, the

RCO implemented a change process at the

continuing

this specific group. De Salon now gives

Royal

Concertgebouw Orchestra in this way.

2

have any questions, please contact

Account Manager, Corporate Partnerships,

at c.reisborges@concertgebouworkest.nl or on +31 (0)20 305 10 56.

RCO House laying new foundations under the orchestra As

many

of

Concertgebouw

you

know,

Orchestra

the is

Royal

Since the purchase of the property on

by

en. In the autumn of 2016, building plans

its very own house. A former school building

designed

prominent the

Dutch

property

is

in

1908

architect

ideally

Scheduling

getting

the

Berlage,

located

at

Museumplein, just a stone’s throw from The Concertgebouw. With RCO House, a

dream long cherished by the RCO has

become a reality: having its very own space, complete with rehearsal studios

and an ensemble hall for educational and chamber music activities.

Importance Although orchestral rehearsals are held at The Concertgebouw, there are no spac-

es where our musicians can practise individually or rehearse in smaller groups.

They currently have no choice but to do

so at home or in studios which are often far away and expensive to rent. With the construction of ten rehearsal studios, RCO House will meet this pressing need.

23 August 2016, many steps have been tak-

were drawn up and planning permission

also be crucial in helping us raise the re-

Build with us

milestone. In the summer of 2017, demo-

Will you join us? Why not consider becom-

in the spring of 2017, which was a major

Together we’re building our home base.

lition work began, and the construction of

ing a donor and help us make this dream a

ten soundproof rehearsal studios, foyers, instrument storage and a space for physio-

therapy will get under way in the autumn.

The next step will involve the restoration and renovation of the Berlage monument, which will feature a reception room and

offices, a soundproof ensemble space for

small concerts, masterclasses, lectures,

reality. We would be happy to discuss the various options with you for making donations to RCO House and enjoying signifi-

cant tax benefits. Naturally, you can also

opt to support a specific part of RCO House

together with a group of donors, we would gladly discuss the possibilities with you.

and educational activities for schoolchildren. We hope to be able to start using the building by the end of 2018, around the

orchestra’s 130th anniversary, on November 3.

chamber music and, crucially, will be a ha-

Royal

For more information or to make a

The total project costs €12.5 million. The

ven not only for the orchestra, but also for

will be investing €2.5 million. We have

cluding our corporate partners.

foundations and the corporate sector will

sterdam granted the planning permission

and development. The municipality of Am-

our aims in the areas of education and

committed to supporting the orchestra, in-

lion. The support of individual donors,

maining amount.

Funding

House will be a meeting place for all those

funds have together pledged over €6.3 mil-

was requested for renovation, restoration

In addition, RCO House can help us achieve

RCO staff and the Academy. Finally, RCO

ing donors and a number of institutional

Concertgebouw

Orchestra

itself

launched a major recruitment campaign

to raise the remaining €10 million and are truly delighted with the support for RCO

House so far. To date, many new and exist3

donation to RCO House, please contact Anne Christin Erbe or Barbara Ruding at a.c.erbe@concertgebouworkest.nl

or b.ruding@concertgebouworkest.nl, or on +31 (0)20 305 10 10.

www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/ rco-house

Interview with Artistic Director Joel Ethan Fried 4

continued from page 4

Jansons and of course Daniele Gatti.

on many things. One of those is the con-

Artistic Director Joel Ethan Fried has

Which concerts can you recommend in

musicians. Just playing in an orchestra is

gebouw Orchestra’s musical program-

I find it quite difficult to select a few high-

been responsible for the Royal Concertming since 1999. With the new season

now under way, we asked him to look

back on last season, and about what we can expect and shouldn’t miss out on this season.

How do you look back on the past season? Which concerts and projects do you regard as absolute highlights?

It’s difficult to pick a few highlights, since there were many concerts that stood out for

the level of the orchestra’s performance, for the work of soloists, for unusual rep-

particular?

lights of the season, but I will do my best.

Daniele Gatti will conduct Mahler’s First (9 and 11 May 2018) and Fourth (8 and 9 November 2017) Symphonies, and Bruckner’s

Ninth Symphony (5 and 7 January 2018).

Honorary Conductor Bernard Haitink will

conduct Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (7, 8

and 10 June 2018), and guest conductor Jaap van Zweden will conduct Bruckner’s

Eighth Symphony (2, 3 and 6 May 2018).

chief conductor of the RCO. Our orchestra’s excellence is due to many factors, but one is the fact that we’ve had only six chief

conductors in our first 128 years! Another highlight was our orchestra’s performance

However, our orchestra works hard every

months after the Brexit vote, this concert, part of our ‘Side by Side’ project, provided new hope for the ideals of European unity.

What are some of the central themes

this season, and what makes this season unique?

We will present ‘War and Peace’, a threeweek project in April 2018, including one

week conducted by chief conductor Daniele Gatti. Rather than just looking back to 1918, the programmes refer to historic

events in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The repertoire ranges

chronologically from music by Händel to a newly commissioned work by the French composer Guillaume Connesson.

Moreover, our ‘Side by Side’ project continues, showing how much the countries of

be among the highlights of our season.

of our roster of conductors. For the first time ever, all four living chief conductors

of the RCO will appear in the same season: Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Mariss

RCO House will also help us expand our ed-

ucational work. By providing an ‘ensemble

room’ that can be used for events such as

workshops with schoolchildren, concert previews for adults, open rehearsals and informal concerts, RCO House will make

activities feasible that are presently very difficult or impossible.

most important objectives. What proj-

for a wide range of music, from Bach to new works. In addition to the Mahler and Bruckner performances mentioned above, I think that the opportunity on 22 or 25 De-

cember to hear our orchestra play Johann

Sebastian Bach’s B Minor Mass, the ‘Hohe Messe’, (for the first time since 1972!) is

very special. For those who would like to bring friends or family who don’t regularly

attend classical music concerts, I would suggest the RCO Club Night on 10 February 2018, or our Essentials series. And, for

those who would like an inside look at the

interaction between a conductor and an or-

chestra, I can recommend our Conducting Masterclass with Daniele Gatti on 25 and 26 June 2018.

the future home of the orchestra and

sical languages. Lastly, we are very proud

individual

each audience member will develop a taste

the highest possible level. We hope that

heritage from one generation to the next.

show that, since we all speak the same mu-

for

The realisation of special artistic and

The orchestra has initiated a large-scale

Playing music together is a great way to

opportunities

practice and for chamber music rehearsals.

week to perform music from all periods at

the European Union have in common, and

helping to transmit our shared cultural

members

heritage to a new generation of musicians’

tional Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on

London, conducted by Gatti. Less than six

will give our musicians and our Academy

opportunity to transmit our shared cultural

For Mahler and Bruckner fans, these will

17 December 2016 at the Barbican Centre in

and chamber music repertoire. RCO House

countries have in common, and an

of Wagner’s overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ‘Side by Side’ with the Na-

dividually and to play a wide variety of solo

show the things that people in different

historic occasion was RCO Opening Night investiture of Daniele Gatti as the seventh

not enough; musicians need to practice in-

‘Playing music together is a great way to

ertoire or for a combination of these. An on 9 September 2016, since it marked the

tinued musical growth of each of our 120

fundraising campaign for RCO House, its audience members. The orchestra hopes to be able to move to its new

house at the end of 2018, around the celebration of its 130th anniversary. What

is the added value of RCO House for the orchestra?

The artistic excellence of the RCO depends 5

educational projects is one of the RCO’s ects are planned for the 2017–18 season?

Our educational activities are primarily

in the categories of talent development

and the initiation of new audiences. In 2017–18, we will continue several successful large-scale activities in the develop-

ment of young musicians. Moreover, our

Orchestra Academy has welcomed seven new musicians for an intensive year of lessons, training, rehearsals and performances, and we will again present a conducting

masterclass with chief conductor Daniele Gatti. We will also continue smaller pro-

jects with South African musicians, with

the Sweelinck Academy (the young talent programme of the Conservatory of Amsterdam), with the National Master Orches-

tral Conducting and with conservatories in other countries. We work to initiate

young audiences through our family concerts, our family series, and a joint project

with the Royal Concertgebouw: Onstage and Backstage. We also offer a combination of initiation and participation (active

music-making) to young Dutch pupils via a joint project with the Royal Concertgebouw: Workshop with a Concert.

rco meets europe Concertgebouw Orchestra continues its concert tour In September, the Royal Concertgebouw

pet player in the orchestra summed up the

ty-eight EU member states as part of

could open up music to younger people …

Orchestra continued its tour to all twenRCO meets Europe project with performances in Berlin, Bucharest and Buda-

pest. Later in the season, it is continu-

experience as follows: ‘I think this tour

and also prove that Brexit (and all things like that) can be overpowered by music.’

ing the project with concerts in Spain,

With RCO meets Europe, the orchestra

Bulgaria and Malta. RCO meets Europe

and ideals which unite Europe and have

Portugal, the Czech Republic, France, will be entering its final stretch in the autumn of 2018.

The tour has attracted much international attention and garnered high praise. One of the highlights so far was the orchestra’s

performance in London with the National

Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. A trum-

hopes to highlight the fundamental ideas made it what it is today. Jan Raes, Managing Director of the Royal Concertgebouw

Orchestra, says, ‘The shared emotional experience through music can bring people together. Orchestral music in particular symbolises the true value of a “polyphonic” sense of diversity.’

6

RCO launches video platform The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has launched a video platform offer-

ing free access to RCO Editions con-

cert recordings, interviews and factual films made over the last few years.

Now anyone anywhere in the world can access the recordings via the new

platform on the orchestra’s website.

From left to right: Bert Langenkamp, Miroslav Petkov, Jacco Groenendijk, Omar Tomasoni, Aldo Verbruggen

The platform is compatible with com-

(partner with Jones Day) and Marc Bakker (board member of the donors’ foundation Stichting Donateurs).

Salon summer drinks concludes 2016/17 concert season On June 29, De Salon, held a summer

Jacco Groenendijk provided the musical

to mark the end of the season.

Aldo Verbruggen, partner with Jones Day,

drinks party at Salon member Jones Day

While guests enjoyed a bite and a drink, trumpet

players

Omar

Tomasoni,

Miroslav Petkov, Bert Langenkamp and

entertainment. After a welcome speech by

puters, tablets and mobile phones regardless of the operating system.

The video productions were recorded in recent years by the Royal Concertge-

bouw Orchestra itself. Registered users can view, pause and resume recordings, share them on social media and create favourite listings. New concert recordings will be added regularly to the platform.

and Marc Bakker, board member of the

You can access the video platform at

foundation Stichting Donateurs, there

nl/video. To mark the launch, a new

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s donors’ was time for guests to mix and mingle.

https://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/ recording has just been made availa-

ble: that of Ottorino Respighi’s Fontane

di Roma, performed on RCO Opening

RCO performs at the BBC Proms The

Royal

Concertgebouw

Orchestra

the orchestra gave another BBC Proms

concerts at the BBC Proms in London’s

phony No. 82 (‘L’ours’) and Mahler’s Sym-

kicked off its 2017–18 season with two Royal Albert Hall, marking chief conductor Daniele Gatti’s first performance there with the orchestra.

On September 1, they performed Bruck-

ner’s unfinished Symphony No. 9 – one of

the most intensely expressive orchestral

performance

featuring

Haydn’s

Sym-

phony No. 4 with soprano Chen Reiss. The Guardian’s Andrew Clements praised the orchestra’s

performance

of

Bruckner’s

Symphony No. 9, remarking that ‘Gatti’s approach

underlined

the

symphony’s

monumentality more than anything else’.

works ever composed, a tour de force for

Representatives from the orchestra’s global

for the listener. Wolfgang Rihm’s In-Schrift

partners Stibbe and Arcadis also attended

the musicians and a unique experience was also programmed. On September 2,

partners Unilever and ING and corporate the London concerts.

7

Night 2016.

New staff appointments We are happy to announce that Patty Nobrega and Harmina Snoodijk joined the Corporate Partnerships Team on 1 September. Patty is overall respon-

sible for the coporate partnerships and is replacing Jan Meddens, who

after working for the RCO for many

years has embarked on a new adventure with World Press Photo. Harmina

has taken over Gerdine Niemans’s ac-

tivities and is focusing on organising events. The other members of the Corporate Partnerships Team are Charlie dos Reis Borges Rodrigues and Rike Blom.

upComing international concerts Frankfurt, Germany

Saturday, 11 November 2017

Seoul, Korea

Wednesday, 15 November 2017

Seoul, Korea

Thursday, 16 November 2017

Kyoto, Japan

Saturday, 18 November 2017

Kawasaki, Japan

Sunday, 19 November 2017

Tokyo, Japan

Monday, 20 November 2017

Tokyo, Japan

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Nagasaki, Japan Osaka, Japan

Thursday, 23 November 2017 Friday, 24 November 2017

UPCOMING SALON EVENTS 9 December 2017

ESSENTIALS AND RCO LOUNGE 7 March 2018

New York, USA

Wednesday, 17 January 2018

New York, USA

Thursday, 18 January 2018

CROSS-OVER EVENING

Sunday, 18 February 2018

9 May 2018

Paris, France

Monday, 19 February 2018

Madrid, Spain

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

PARTNER DINNER AND CONCERT VISIT

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Lisbon, Portugal

Brussels, Belgium

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Saturday, 17 March 2018

Essen, Germany

Friday, 4 May 2018

Vienna, Austria

Monday, 14 May 2018

Praque, Czech Republic

Tuesday, 15 May 2018

Dresden, Germany Paris, France

3 June 2018

FAMILY CONCERT: ROMEO AND JULIET 14 September 2018

RCO OPENING NIGHT

Wednesday, 16 May 2018 Thursday, 17 May 2018

Concerts making up the RCO meets Europe project

Acknowledgements RCO Corporate is a publication of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for its corporate contacts both in- and outside of the Netherlands.

Photos Anne Dokter, Mladen Pikulic, Renske Vrolijk, Milagro Elstak Text and editing Marjolein Joosen, Charlie dos Reis Borges Rodrigues Translation Josh Dillon Design Atelier Rene Knip & Rens Martens Contact Patty Nobrega Senior Account Manager, Corporate Partnerships Tel. +31 (0)20 305 10 10 p.nobrega@concertgebouworkest.nl Charlie dos Reis Borges Rodrigues Account Manager, Corporate Partnerships Tel. +31 (0)20 305 10 10 c.reisborges@concertgebouworkest.nl 8