The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (NedPhO) is among the best orchestras in the country. The NedPhO and the associated Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (NKO) are the regular accompanying partners of De Nederlandse Opera (DNO) in the Muziektheater. Alongside this, both orchestras provide versatile concert programs in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and are welcome guests in other Dutch concert halls and in halls and festivals abroad. Typical of the NedPhO | NKO are their inviting programming and welcoming presentation. With their enthusiasm and passion for the music, the musicians provide a special listening experience. With the extensive NedPho GO! education and outreach program, NedPhO | NKO make classical music accessible for everyone. Under its former chief conductor Hartmut Haenchen, NedPhO had great success with the performance of the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen (DNO, also on CD). Over the years, the orchestra has performed all the great operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss. The successful performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten led to the appointment of Marc Albrecht as chief conductor of DNO and NedPhO | NKO. In 2011 and 2012 Albrecht conducted the operas Orest and Der Schatzgräber with the NedPhO and once again received praising reviews. Next to the opera productions with DNO, Albrecht will regularly appear in the coming season with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

De Nationale Opera (DNO) is the Netherlands’ largest opera company and is based in the Nationale Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam (formerly known as The Amsterdam Music Theatre). DNO has grown into one of Europe’s most prominent and progressive opera companies. Until February 17, 2014 the company operated under the name De Nederlandse Opera. To start at 2013 Els van der Plas is the general director of De Nederlandse Opera, Dutch National Ballet and the music theatre.
In 1998 Pierre Audi became artistic director of the company, who formed a successful team together with administrative director Truze Lodder. Since January 1, 2013, Audi is director of De Nationale Opera. In September 2018 he will be succeeded by Sophie de Lint.
DNO produces music theatre productions at the highest international level, with a clear focus on artistic quality, diversity and innovation. The sixty member Koor van De Nederlandse Opera contributes significantly to this success.
Examples of DNO’s audacious programming include the first Dutch staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen and the operas of Claudio Monteverdi. The majority of the performances are given in The Amsterdam Music Theatre, but operas are occasionally staged in other venues, including the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Koninklijk Theater Carré, on the grounds of the Westergasfabriek and in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.
DNO typically realizes eleven opera productions each season, with an average attendance of 96% capacity. In order to reach a wider audience, most productions are broadcast live on radio and several productions per year are televised. DNO also regularly organizes supplemental activities at other venues and via new media. In addition, many of DNO’s opera productions have been issued on DVD.
DNO performs regularly in opera houses and on festivals abroad. For instance, the company was a guest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on the Lincoln Festival in New York, the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Salzburger Festspiele and in Luxembourg, Tokio and Valencia as well.

The Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera currently has 60 members. The chorus performs both mainstream repertoire and works of contemporary composers, and has collaborated on a number of world premières. The chorus of DNO gained international acclaim in Amsterdam and Salzburg for its role in Schönberg’s Moses und Aron conducted by Pierre Boulez. The Friends of De Nederlandse Opera awarded the chorus with the 1996 Prix d’Amis in recognition of this achievement. The DNO productions The Bassarids, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Castor et Pollux, Ercole amante, Saint François d’Assise, Boris Godunov and Carmen were significant milestones in past seasons. In 2008 the chorus performed the concertante version of Saint François d’Assise at the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall). Lately the chorus has given outstanding performances in La Juive, Les Troyens, Turandot, Les vêpres siciliennes, Platée, Legende, Yevgeny Onyegin, Iphigénie en Aulide/Iphigénie en Tauride, Don Carlo and Parsifal. It received plaudits both at home and abroad for its impressive performance in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia and most recently in Guillaume Tell (prepared by Eberhard Friedrich). The chorus ended its association with artistic director Martin Wright in the 2011-2012 season and has been working with various guest conductors during the 2012-2013 season.

Marc Albrecht, chief conductor of De Nederlandse Opera and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, is highly regarded for his interpretations of works by Wagner and Richard Strauss, as well as contemporary works.
He has been a guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the orchestras of Rome (Santa Cecilia), Dresden and Lyons. He has led operas including Der fliegende Holländer (Bayreuther Festspiele, 2003-2006), Die Bacchantinnen (Salzburger Festspiele, 2005) and From the House of the Dead (Opéra national de Paris, 2005). From 2001 to 2004 he was principal guest conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where his engagements included a highly acclaimed performance of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise. He was artistic director and chief conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg from 2006 to 2011. He also enjoys a close association with the Semperoper Dresden, where he led the productions of Die Frau ohne Schatten and La damnation de Faust in 2007. Recent conducting engagements include The Bassarids (Bayerische Staatsoper München), Der fliegende Holländer (ROH Covent Garden), Der Prinz von Homburg (Theater an der Wien), Lulu with the Wiener Philharmoniker (Salzburg), Elektra, Orest and The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia (DNO) and his debut at La Scala with Die Frau ohne Schatten.