Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

A symphonic reflection of its musical home's low-key splendour, the Amsterdam-based Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is noted for its long conductor tenures, full-bodied strings and nearly 1,000 recordings. The Concertgebouw, or concert hall, opened in 1888, and the new Concertgebouw Orchestra made its debut later that year under chief conductor Willem Kes. Willem Mengelberg took over in 1895 at just 24 years old and remained for half a century. During this fabled tenure, the orchestra formed a close association with contemporary composers Gustav Mahler, who considered Mengelberg his most trustworthy interpreter, and Richard Strauss, who dedicated Ein Heldenleben to the orchestra in 1898. Following Bruckner specialist Eduard van Beinum (who died at the podium), Bernard Haitink became chief conductor in 1963 and heightened the orchestra's recording profile substantially with unpretentiously authoritative complete symphonic cycles of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Riccardo Chailly became the first non-Dutchman to lead the group in 1988, when the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix gave both orchestra and concert hall a regal upgrade. Chailly, a committed modernist, stewarded the now Royal Concertgebouw's rich classical sound when recording orchestral works by Stravinsky, Messiaen and Varèse. As only the orchestra’s sixth and seventh chief conductors, Mariss Jansons (2004-15) and Daniele Gatti (2016-18) ushered the Concertgebouw into a modern era of shorter tenures yet no less demanding musical standards.