NJO Winter Tour 2022

It was very uncertain until the last moment whether the NJO Winter Tour of January 2022 could take place due to the closure of the theaters and concert halls as a result of continuing COVID-19 measures. Seven concerts were originally planned and until just before the first date, the question remained whether they could continue. Thanks to the commitment of AVROTROS to go through with the AVROTROS Friday Concert on 28 January in TivoliVredenburg with or without public, the rehearsals took place despite all the uncertainties. This live broadcast on Radio 4 would definitely take place. Please check the musicians who participated in this project on orchestra members. Watch the registration of this concert below. 

The National Youth Orchestra (NJO) led by the British conductor John Wilson prepared a special programme. The renowned Storioni Trio celebrated its 25th anniversary, which was a good reason for the NJO to invite the trio as soloists. Trio and orchestra performed a forgotten composition by the Hungarian Emánuel Moór, the Triple Concerto in D minor, Opus 70, composed in 1907 and dedicated to Alfred Cortot, Jacques Thibaut and Pablo Casals, who have played it often. The piece has probably never been performed in the Netherlands before and so this NJO Winter Tour it premiered in our country. The Storioni Trio, all three members of which were once members of the NJO, made the below video about this work (Dutch only).

The NJO also performed Sergej Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony in E minor, Opus 27, written in 1906-1907. Rachmaninoff was insecure about his abilities as a symphony composer after the harsh criticism of his First Symphony, which would have even led to a depression. This uncertainty continued after the success of his Piano Concerto No. 2, which won him the Glinka Prize in 1904. He spent months revising the first version of his second symphony, but eventually he succeeded and in 1908 he himself conducted the premiere of the work which earned him the Glinka Prize again a year later, plus a lot more confidence in his qualities as a composer.

Short impression Winter Tour National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, January 2022

On 25 January 2022, it was announced that the theaters and concert halls were allowed to re-open until 10 PM. Fortunately, the NJO was therefore able to perform the aforementioned programme a number of times: in Theater Orpheus in Apeldoorn on Wednesday 26 January, during the AVROTROS Friday Concert in TivoliVredenburg on 28 January (with audience) and in Theater Heerlen on Saturday 29 January (Rachmaninoff only). The concert in TivoliVredenburg was broadcast live on Radio 4, and there we made video recordings that we combined with the audio recordings from AVROTROS to make the videos at the top of this page. See above a short impression of the concert in TivoliVredenburg including an interview with the Storioni Trio and the concert master of the NJO. Below you can check out the photos we took during the tour. The full radio broadcast can be heard via the Radio 4 website.