Residentie Orkest has a new story to tell at the Concertgebouw

By Clare Varney, 26 August 2025

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“the harp’s heavenly strains brought visions of fluttering tutus onto the Concertgebouw stage”

Reviewed at Concertgebouw: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 24 August 2025

Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre

Saint-Saëns, Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op.28

Saint-Saëns, Marche héroïque, Op.34

Wieniawski, Fantaisie brillante on themes from Gounod's Faust, Op.20

Bacewicz, Kaprys polski (Polish Caprice)

Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake: Suite, Op.20a

Bomsori Kim, Violin

Residentie Orkest The Hague

Jun Märkl, Conductor

Michel van der Aa’s Theory of Flames: defining opera for a modern age

Clare Varney, 6th March

British singers Mary Bevan and Roderick Williams lead the cast in Dutch National Opera’s latest ground-breaking opera, merging live music with pre-recorded film and electronics.

****1

Venables We Are the Lucky Ones is the time to be alive at DNO

Eleanor Knight, 22nd March

Inspired by Annie Ernaux’s The Years, Philip Venables’ new opera widens the canvas to take in the whole of Europe’s postwar generation.

*****

Current and consoling: Willem Jeths’ Ritratto in Amsterdam

Michael Klier, 7th October

After a seven month delay, Willem Jeths' new opera finally receives its long awaited world premiere in front of a live audience.

****1

A monolithic Nabucco at Dutch National Opera

Jenny Camilleri, 27th January

A promising cast on paper is scuppered by a banal, monotonous production and uninspired conducting.

**111

Bob Wilson's cool minimalist Butterfly is back in Amsterdam

Nicolas Nguyen, 23rd April

Robert Wilson's Madama Butterfly is back in Amsterdam starring rising star Elena Stikhina as the doomed Cio-Cio-San.

***11

Brownlee and Spyres: so much more than vocal jousting

Jenny Camilleri, 31st October

Top tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres dared to duel at the Concertgebouw. Both emerged victorious, and not just because of the volley of sensational top notes.

****1

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Clare Varney

Clare is a freelance writer and music critic from the UK, currently living in the Netherlands where she writes about Music, Food and Culture. Clare is a passionate musician, having learnt the violin and piano from an early age. When not at her laptop writing, she spends her time nurturing the next generation of brass players, all from her Dutch kitchen in the sky. Read more at The Spidy Editor.