O18c is proud to present season 2025/2026; a varied and diverse season with music from the Baroque until the present day, with partners new and old. A season where the Orchestra tells stories from the past for an audience today, to a public all over the Netherlands and beyond. Where the musicians explore newly-discovered and newly-written repertoire, and present much-loved favorites, played on period instruments. It is also the season in which O18c starts along an exciting new path, developing collaborations with a range of Artistic Partners.
Season 2025-2026
The new season opens with the most recent in the orchestra’s tradition of semi-staged Mozart operas, premiering in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 20th October. This year, perennial favorite Le nozze di Figaro is on the music stands. Featuring a cast of top young soloists including Maria Warenberg, Katharine Dain, Nikki Treurniet, James Newby, James Atkinson, Esther Kuiper, and Sharon Tadmor, conducted by Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, stage directed by Jorinde Keesmaat, and with a fantastic team of creatives, this take on the story of Susanna’s wedding promises to be a production not to be missed!
Regular partner Lucie Horsch joins the orchestra for a program of Handel, Corelli, Scarlatti and Roman, composers all connected by the stories of women behind the scenes who made their music possible. Winner of the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, soprano Elisabeth Hetherington explores the lost musical world of Classical composer Marianna Martines, who was very popular in her own time, but has since disappeared from view. Both these projects contain exciting new works, by Freya Waley-Cohen and Kate Moore respectively.
Choral projects always play a popular role in the work of the Orchestra and this season is no exception; the musicians are joined by the Vlaams Radiokoor for the great Mass in c minor by Mozart and continue a biennial Passion tradition with Cappella Amsterdam. Conductor Richard Egarr leads the Orchestra in explorations of Romantic sound worlds on period instruments in programs of Mendelssohn and Schubert, the latter being part of the 200-year celebrations of the Royal Conservatoire. Last but not least, rising-star Dutch-based pianist Olga Pashchenko will begin a project exploring new interpretations of the Beethoven Piano Concerti with O18c. Together with the exciting new carte blanche project where musicians from the orchestra decide what to play, it will be a season full of discovery.
O18c Artistic partners
O18c is proud to introduce from this year onwards a line of artistic partners. This dynamic and varied group, including conductors, soloists and other sorts of creative soulmates, will join the stage alongside concertmaster Alexander Janiczek, and the specialist core players of the ensemble. Together they will create performances and recordings which uphold the tradition of musical excellence in period performance for which the orchestra is known and combine this with an innovative and inquisitive spirit of discovery, bringing old and new repertoire alive for listeners from all generations and walks of life.
Today we are excited to announce the first appointment in this series: Artistic Partner and Creative Associate Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg. The additional creative role reflects the wider collaboration between Wenzelberg and the O18c, which will incorporate not only conducting/directing but also composing and artistic curation of various projects.
This young conductor, composer, singer and pianist first met the orchestra over two years ago as assistant to Kenneth Montgomery and took over a rehearsal at short notice. In January this year he musically directed Haydn’s La fedeltà premiata with the orchestra. As a result of that success, Wenzelberg will conduct the new production of Le nozze di Figaro in autumn 2025 and will also work on the development of other projects. The orchestra management and musicians are delighted to be able to collaborate closely with him over the next years.
Kate Rockett, general and artistic director: “Benjamin is a very special multi-talented musician who has a strong affinity with the historically informed nature of our work, a great feeling for connecting the past with the present, and a collaborative way of working that fits perfectly with this orchestra. We very much look forward to developing our relationship with him over the coming period.”
Wenzelberg: “It's my honor to be named artistic partner and creative associate of the Orchestra of the 18th Century. I’m deeply grateful for the musical rapport and personal resonance we share so strongly and am proud to represent how O18c's approach to historical performance can be a strikingly contemporary vehicle for keeping the spark and impact of this repertoire vibrant for artists and audiences today.”
