Concertgebouw Orchestra to keep working with Russians who don't support the war

The Concertgebouw Orchestra will continue to work with Russian musicians "who have not endorsed the aggressive behavior of the Russian government in word or gesture." The orchestra emphasized this on Monday at the presentation of the 2022/2023 season. However, Putin supporter and pianist Denis Matseuv is no longer welcome. The Russian was scheduled to play several concerts with the orchestra in March next year.

As was already known, the Russian conductor Valeri Gergiev will no longer be performing with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in which Russians and Ukrainians play in harmony. Other orchestras, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, already distanced themselves from the maestro due to his refusal to condemn Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev and Mastuev's names are still in the Concertgebouw Orchestra brochure, but it was already printed when Russia invaded Ukraine. 

"Like the vast majority of the international community, we strongly condemn this abusive invasion. Due to the public support shown in the past to Vladimir Putin, which has not been renounced, we have decided that Valeri Gergiev will not lead the concerts on December 14 and 15," said a spokesperson.

The orchestra still does not have a new chief conductor but promised "to come up with news on the subject of the chief conductor before the end of this season." The company has been without a chief since Daniele Gatti left in 2018. 

The 2022/2023 season will have the theme of connection. During this period, the orchestra will play in prestigious European halls, including the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Philharmonie in Paris, and the London Barbican Centre.

Several famous conductors will perform again with the Concertgebouw Orchestra next season: former chief Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, John Eliot Gardiner, Jaap van Zweden, and Paavo Järvi. Canadian conductor Barbara Hannigan, also known as a singer for her Grammy-winning album Crazy Girl Crazy, will perform for the Concertgebouw Orchestra for the first time next season. Herbert Blomstedt, now 94, is also on the agenda, with Bruckner's Fourth.

Other iconic masterpieces on the program include Die Schöpfung by Haydn, Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Fifth, Schubert's Ninth Symphony, and Mahler's Fourth, Fifth and Ninth symphonies. Van Zweden will conduct a concert performance in the first act of Wagner's Die Walküre.