Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra | en

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Dutch, KCO) is the best known and most respected symphonic orchestra in the Netherlands, and is generally considered to be among the world's finest. It is named after the Concertgebouw (Dutch for "concert hall") in Amsterdam in which it gives its concerts. Its "Royal" title was conferred upon it in 1988 by Queen Beatrix.

The Concertgebouw opened on April 11, 1888. The Concertgebouw Orchestra, however, was not founded until a little later. It gave its first concert in the Concertgebouw on November 3, 1888 under the principal conductor for its first seven years, Willem Kes.

The orchestra enjoyed a close relationship with Gustav Mahler and championed many of his symphonies, with an especially worthy festival of his music being the 1920 Mahler Festival. Other conductors who worked closely with the Concertgebouw Orchestra included George Szell. More recently, Nikolaus Harnoncourt was named Honorary Guest Conductor of the KCO in 2000.

Uniquely among orchestras of this caliber and age, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has had only six chief conductors, which has been yet another factor in creating the orchestra's distinct character. With what has been described as its ‘velvet’ strings, the ‘golden’ brass sound and the exceptional timbre of the woodwinds, sometimes described as ‘typically Dutch’, the Concertgebouw Orchestra has won itself a place amongst the small, select group of top world orchestras. The nearly one thousand recordings that the orchestra has to its credit have also contributed to this reputation.

Past artistic directors of the Concertgebouw Orchestra have included Rudolf Mengelberg, Marius Flothuis, and Peter Ruzicka. Currently, the executive director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is Jan Willem Loot.

Recently, the KCO has begun to issue CDs on its own label, KCO Live, as conducted by Jansons and Haitink. .