Concertgebouw Orchestra Christmas Matinee at 50

Christmas Matinee

Bernard Haitink conducted the very first Christmas Matinee back in 1975. Since then, every year on Christmas Day, the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Christmas concert has been televised live from the Main Hall – formerly by Eurovision, and now for many years by AVROTROS.

Klaus Mäkelä

The chief conductor has traditionally led the orchestra in the Christmas Matinee – a role assumed for the last few years by chief conductor designate, Klaus Mäkelä. On Christmas Day 2025, he is conducting an enjoyable concert full of twilight tints, nocturnal whispers and tales from distant lands. Experience the fabulous stories from the One Thousand and One Nights in Rimsky-Korsakov’s sultry Sheherazade, the solo violin running through the work like a golden thread. Less well-known but just as compelling is the symphonic poem Lydische Nacht by Alphons Diepenbrock, who is considered the most important Dutch composer of the late-Romantic period. Who wouldn’t feel for a shepherd all alone in the darkness with his turbulent inner world and the cool, impassive moon…