Welcome to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Music director Jaap van Zweden

 The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was founded by Albert van Raalte in 1945. In the ensuing years, several distinguished conductors have stood at the orchestra’s helm: Paul van Kempen, Bernard Haitink, Willem van Otterloo, Jean Fournet, Hans Vonk, Sergiu Comissiona and Edo de Waart.
Jaap van Zweden was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director in September 2005. The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra worked with the world’s foremost guest conductors, including Leopold Stokowsky, Kirill Kondrashin, Antál Dorati, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Mariss Jansons, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Valery Gergiev.

As one of the flagship orchestras for the Dutch Broadcasting Authority, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic occupies a prominent place in two series at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Saturday Matinee and the Sunday Morning Concerts as well as the Friday Vredenburg series in Utrecht. All concerts are broadcast live on the Dutch national station, Radio 4 and through the international European Broadcasting Union connection.

A leading light on the Dutch musical firmament, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra guarantees adventurous symphonic programming, high quality performance and a plethora of concertante opera performances. World premieres and Dutch premieres of works by among others Koechlin, Martin, Franssens, Koolmees, Padding, Francesconi, Janácek, De Raaff, Oetsvolskaja, Vriend and Rijnvos were praised by critics and audience.
The orchestra’s discography is impressive and includes the complete Mahler Symphonies and orchestral works by Rachmaninoff under the direction of Edo de Waart. Ongoing recording projects include a Bruckner-cycle under the direction of Jaap van Zweden (Exton label) and the complete Shostakovich symphonies led by the British conductor Mark Wigglesworth (Bis label). Wagner’s Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, performed by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Choir and vocal soloists under the direction of Jaap van Zweden, were recorded for QuattroLive and met with great critical acclaim. QuattroLive is the cd label of Radio 4, the Netherlands Broadcasting Music Center, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the broadcasters NPS, AVRO and TROS.

The orchestra has garnered many prizes for releases of compositions by contemporary composers, including Jonathan Harvey, Klas Torstensson and Jan van Vlijmen.
In the preceding years the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was invited for the Festival Musica in Strasbourg to perform Olivier Messiaen’s magnum opus La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ with the Netherlands Radio Choir under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw and for several concerts during the Sun Festival in Singapore with chief conductor Jaap van Zweden. In the 2009-2010 concert season the orchestra undertakes a tour to Great Britain, Germany and Austria.

www.radiofilharmonischorkest.nl