All stories

Christmas with Klaus Mäkelä

This year we’ll be celebrating Christmas Day with Klaus Mäkelä! Our future chief conductor will lead the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s traditional Christmas Matinee on 25 December at 2:15 p.m. Always brimming with Christmas spirit, the concert will be broadcast by AVROTROS, live on the radio on NPO Klassiek, and on television on NPO 2 at 4:00 p.m.
René Knip
René Knip

Kerstmatinee

The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s traditional Christmas Matinee has been broadcast on television since the 1970s, when Bernard Haitink was the chief conductor. This festive annual concert is usually the chief conductor’s preserve. The 2021 Christmas Matinee (during the lockdown period) was a streamed concert, and Klaus Mäkelä was asked to fill in on short notice, just three months after his Concertgebouw Orchestra debut. The collaboration was such a success that it led to Mäkelä’s appointment as artistic partner and future chief conductor. Starting this year, he’ll be conducting the annual Christmas Matinee in that capacity.

Watch our Christmas Matinee on Christmas Day on NPO 2 at 4:00 p.m.

Programme

On the programme are works by Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, with soprano soloist Chen Reiss, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’.