Don't miss the opportunity to hear Han-Na Chang conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for the very first time! On June 19, they'll be performing astonishingly beautiful works by Beethoven, Strauss and Deutsch at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Get your tickets now!
The concert programme
Here's an overview of what to expect at the concert:
Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Phantasma
In her first performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Han-Na Chang champions Beethoven’s lyrical Symphony No. 4. Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Phantasma was inspired by Beethoven, as well as Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze, which is on display in Vienna’s Secession Building.
Phantasma made a big impression on audiences at its world premiere, performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in October 2022. Klimt’s idealised vision of the world, with brilliant explosions of colour, symbols, and even gold – Deutsch brings it all to life in the music.
Richard Strauss' Don Quixote
Richard Strauss was unrivalled in his ability to make the most fantastic scenes come to life in music. Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote served as Strauss’s inspiration for his Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character.
The adventures of the knight-errant and his faithful squire, as heroic as they are hilarious, come to life as the orchestra’s principal cellist Tatiana Vassiljeva and principal violist Santa Vižine, with support from the tenor tuba and bass clarinet, join their orchestra in battle. But who are they fighting? Windmills, sheep and, of course, the knight of the bright moon.
Han-Na Chang's first appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Han-Na Chang now makes her first appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, five years after it was originally scheduled, owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
For further information, please visit the Concertgebouw Orchestra website: Han-Na Chang conducts Beethoven and Strauss.
About the conductor, Han-Na Chang
The South Korean conductor Han-Na Chang began studying the cello at an early age. When she was ten, her family moved to New York so that she could develop her talent at The Juilliard School.
She won the Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris at the age of eleven, a stunning start to her sweeping international career as a cellist. Han-Na Chang has made a series of award-winning recordings and has appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
And yet the podium and baton beckoned her. As a teenager studying philosophy at Harvard, she was invited by James DePreist, director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at Juilliard, who became her mentor.
Today, Han-Na Chang focuses entirely on her career as a conductor. She has served as artistic leader and chief conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Opera since 2017 and as principal guest conductor of the Symphoniker Hamburg since 2022.
She has appeared as a guest conductor with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. She made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2014.
Concert programme
- Bernd Richard Deutsch - Phantasma (commission)
- Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 4
- Richard Strauss - Don Quixote
- Han-Na Chang - Conductor
- Santa Vizine - 1st solo viola
- Tatjana Vassiljeva - 1st solo cello
- The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was founded in 1888. Its distinctive sound has made it one of the world’s leading orchestras.
The orchestra is renowned for its renditions of works by Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Anton Bruckner, as well as its long-standing concert traditions, including the St. Matthew Passion in the week before Easter and the Christmas Matinee. It has always worked closely with contemporary composers.
The Concertgebouw Orchestra has had just seven chief conductors to date. The eighth was announced on June 10, 2022: Klaus Mäkelä joined as artistic partner for the 2022-23 season and will become chief conductor in 2027. The coming season sees five extraordinary programmes with Klaus Mäkelä at the helm.
Buy your tickets
Buy your tickets in advance on the Concertgebouw website and experience one of the top orchestras in the world playing in the acoustical wonder that is the Concertgebouw. Additionally, drinks and cloakroom use are included in the ticket price. Book your tickets today!