Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 1

The Finnish star Klaus Mäkelä has been heard in action with three different orchestras in Lucerne over the last two summers: the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. He has taken the hearts of the audience by storm. Now a fourth orchestra comes into play: the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which Mäkelä will helm as Principal Conductor starting in 2027. He will give these musicians a spotlight by presenting Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, a work in which nearly all of the orchestra’s members get to show off their solo skills and shine with virtuosity and wit. Mozart’s Paris Symphony poses challenges of its own, with a few surprise twists in store, including lightning-fast scales known as “Mannheim Rockets.” The Dutch violinist Janine Jansen will be the soloist for Prokofiev’s popular First Violin Concerto. Given the dreamy and mysterious sound world this concerto weaves, it defies belief to realize that the piece was written amid the turmoil of Russia’s October Revolution in 1917 and its aftermath. Mäkelä and Jansen have received the highest critical praise for their recent recording of the work.