Veranstaltungsort: Dr Anton Philipszaal, The Hague

Destined to be demolished but still in full song last Sunday, the Dr. Anton Philipszaal hosted a unique baroque concert by Philippe Jaroussky and Nathalie Stutzmann. Seldom did Handel's and Vivaldi's opera heroes capture the imagination to this degree.

Under conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Residentie Orkest presented an exuberant programme of perennial favourites including Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Ouverture, Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 1 with soloist Wibi Soerjadi, and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7.Rouvali opened the programme with Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, a seascape which the young Finnish conductor evoked with fluid gestures.

On Saturday evening, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta with soloist Ronald Brautigam presented a splendidly varied programme including pieces by Webern, Mozart and Bach.The Sinfonietta began their programme with a thrilling adaptation of Webern’s Langsamer Satz, an early neo-Romantic piece originally written for string quartet.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is an incredibly popular work – and with good reason. Tonight, this exciting piece was combined with works by two other Russian greats: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture and Tchaikovksy’s Piano Concerto no. 1, played by Nikolai Lugansky.

In 2010 Xian Zhang debuted as a conductor of The Hague’s Residentieorkest to rave reviews. Her performance tonight definitely justified those reviews, she and the orchestra were on excellent form.