Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Mitsuko Uchida, piano and director

She has enjoyed close relationships over many years with the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and — in the U.S. — the Chicago Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra, with whom she recently celebrated her 100th performance at Severance Hall. Conductors with whom she has worked closely have included Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, and Mariss Jansons.

Since 2016, Mitsuko Uchida has been an Artistic Partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom she is currently engaged on a multi-season touring project in Europe, Japan and North America. She also appears regularly in recital in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo, and is a frequent guest at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Salzburg Festival.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca, and her multi-award-winning discography includes the complete Mozart and Schubert piano sonatas. She is the recipient of two Grammy® Awards — for Mozart Concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, and for an album of lieder with Dorothea Röschmann — and her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won the Gramophone Award for Best Concerto. 

A founding member of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and Director of Marlboro Music Festival, Mitsuko Uchida is a recipient of the Golden Mozart Medal from the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association. She has also been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Wigmore Hall Medal, and holds Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In 2009, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

The MCO’s Artistic Partners – pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Leif Ove Andsnes, violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Conductor Laureate Daniel Harding, Artistic Partner for Immersive Experiences Henrik Oppermann, and Artistic Advisor Daniele Gatti – inspire and give shape to the orchestra. These relationships have also been the catalyst for close collaborations with George Benjamin, Gustavo Dudamel, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Yuja Wang.  

The orchestra brings together 27 different nationalities, with every musician living in a different part of the world, to reach live audiences across 40 countries on five continents. Its forward-facing approach enables it to connect with a global community through annual residencies at New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Southbank Centre, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Salzburg’s Mozartwoche, Festival de Saint-Denis, and the Beijing Music Festival.  

Sharing knowledge and experiences is important to the MCO, therefore it works to expand its community through diverse education and outreach initiatives. These are created to inform curious minds, enrich audiences and bring people together through the transformative power of listening. The MCO’s three flagship projects include the MCO Academy, where MCO members share their passion and expertise with the next generation of orchestral musicians in collaboration with Orchesterzentrum|NRW; Unboxing Mozart, inviting audiences into the heart of the orchestra through the use of unique sound boxes; and Feel the Music, which opens the world of music to deaf and hard of hearing children, encouraging a whole-body sensory experience.  

When in 2020, the orchestra was not able to carry out its usual activities, it gained substantial public support to focus more intensely and proactively on key themes related to community, sustainability, and digital technology. Together with its Artistic Partner for Immersive Experiences, Henrik Oppermann/ Schallgeber, the MCO places itself at the forefront of innovation by inviting state-of-the-art digital technologies into the concert hall and beyond. Henrik Oppermann and the MCO will launch three projects within their virtual reality series Future Presence, designed to bring the listener deeper inside the performance and even closer to the music itself. For the first time, it allows the audience to experience The Sound of Listening from within the orchestra and the musician’s perspective. 

Also in its 25th season, the MCO combines its strong forward-facing vision with a deep connection to its roots. This summer, the orchestra finds itself at the finale of the Mozart Momentum 1785/1786 project with Leif Ove Andsnes, taking the stage at the BBC Proms. Travelling through Europe and the USA, the MCO will reunite this season with Mitsuko Uchida for a programme that combines compositions from the two Viennese schools. Innovation through exploring new concert formats and rethinking tradition will be a focal point in the orchestra’s meeting with Pekka Kuusisto. New collaborations, such as with rising star Joana Mallwitz, will be alternated with longstanding connections like with Daniel Harding and George Benjamin. Of the latter, the MCO previously took part in creating works that have become standard repertoire. They will reunite for a new composition towards the end of the season. Before that, the orchestra embarks on a tour across some of the most prestigious venues of Europe with Andris Nelsons and Lang Lang. 

The Mahler Chamber Orchestra’s anniversary season is generously supported by the MCO Foundation.