From miniatures to masterpieces and from Bach to Wantenaar, the Residentie Orkest offers a variety of musicians and repertoire from different cultures and backgrounds in season 2023-2024. The diversity of ingredients promises a colorful program.

Sven Arne Tepl, general and artistic director of the Residentie Orkest, likes to take his audience on a musical exploration of different cultures. Diversity and versatility are therefore central to the programming. 'We want to surprise and inspire our audience every time, both with a broad and innovative repertoire and with guest soloists and conductors from completely different backgrounds. We go on a world tour in our own Concert Hall Amare .'

Top pianists series

New to the lineup of regular series such as Symphonic Friday and the Sunday Matinee is the Top Pianists series. "The piano repertoire is vast and wide-ranging; there's a lot to choose from. We have some great soloists in house, including Denis Kozhukhin who plays Rachmaninov. And former artist in residence Yeol Eum Son is returning to The Hague.' New repertoire has also been considered: Ralph van Raat performs the piano concerto 'Prophecies of Stone' by John Luther Adams. Adams works a lot with soundscapes and is inspired by the nature of Alaska in particular.'

Mainstays

Chief conductor Anja Bihlmaier and regular guest conductors Jun Märkl and Richard Egarr are frequent guests this season at Amare. 'All three of these regular mainstays are putting their own stamp on the orchestra.' Since its opening, some work has been done on the acoustics of the Concert Hall. 'The orchestral sound was just a little too bare, especially in the high registers such as the first violins. We did something about that and as a result, it has become one of the best halls in the country! Because the sound now mixes so beautifully, the sound image comes very close, as if you were looking directly into the score.'

The neighborhood in

'With projects like Music at your doorstep, in which the orchestra goes into the neighborhood, we want to connect with all residents of the city. We are helped in this by housing associations, care institutions and other partners. They indicate what is needed and we respond to that.' A good example are the concerts in the Julianakerk in the Transvaal neighborhood. Here the encounter between the musicians and local residents afterwards is sometimes more important than the concert itself. Such contact really does something. Over and over again.'

Sounds of Now

The program also includes a number of world premieres. These include a concerto for accordion and orchestra by Dutch composer Mathilde Wagenaar and the Triple Concerto that Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund wrote for the Storioni Trio. 'Contemporary composers use the same twelve notes that occur throughout the history of music, but you hear the sound of today. The echo of what is alive in today's society.'