On tour in the USA with Klaus Mäkelä by Prokofiev, Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Od (2024/2024), Dirigent Klaus Mäkelä, Carnegie Hall, New York City, United States

The Concertgebouw Orchestra and its chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä are touring the United States, with performances at venues including Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington. Violinist Lisa Batiashvili is travelling with the orchestra to perform Prokofiev’s delightfully melodious Violin Concerto No. 2. Klaus Mäkelä has paired the concerto with Rachmaninoff’s irresistible Second Symphony, a work with which the composer avenged the failure of his First. And how! The melancholy theme of the second movement has brought tears to the eyes of many since the 1908 premiere, and will always continue to do so. Also on the programme is a surprise: a newly commissioned work by the American composer Ellen Reid to mark her residency at the Concertgebouw and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the 2023–24 season. Audiences have come to know her as a musical chameleon, who moves effortlessly across a wide range of disparate styles and genres – from classical to avant-garde pop and electronic soundscapes. This should be interesting!