Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Academy at 25

Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra has been training talented young musicians for twenty-five years. The Academy has since become an internationally renowned training institute and a key component of the orchestra’s full range of training initiatives catering for young musicians, including Concertgebouw Orchestra Young for musicians between 14 and 18 of age, the Ammodo Masterclass for young conductors (both every two years) and the Bernard Haitink Associate Conductorship. Dozens of alumni have gone on to find work in professional orchestras, including nineteen (shortly twenty-one) with the Concertgebouw Orchestra itself.

Klaus Mäkelä, Aurel Dawidiuk, Carlos Ferreira and Santa Vižine

To celebrate, chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä leads an orchestra made up of current and former participants in our talent development programmes. Aurel Dawidiuk, the first associate conductor in the orchestra’s history (2024–26), is conducting the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and is performing as soloist in Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony. Plus two former Academy students who have made it to principal positions in the orchestra are performing together as soloists in Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola!

Anniversary concert

With this anniversary concert, the orchestra highlights both the success of the Academy and the importance of talent development programmes – not only for the Concertgebouw Orchestra but for the entire classical music world. It’s much more than an anniversary concert – it’s a celebration of twenty-five years of the orchestra’s commitment to talent development and of a healthy future for symphonic music.