Marek Janowski’s Farewell Season Reaches Zurich

Marek Janowski has completed his farewell appearances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, conducting Schubert and Beethoven on 15 and 16 October as his retirement approaches.

The 87-year-old conductor chose Schubert’s Fifth Symphony and Beethoven’s Eroica for the two concerts in the Grosse Tonhalle. The pairing placed familiar orchestral repertoire at the centre of a goodbye to an ensemble with which he has maintained a longstanding relationship.

These were Janowski’s final Zurich engagements, rather than an established final appearance anywhere. His retirement is planned for the end of 2026, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s published season includes concerts with him in November.

The Zurich dates followed another local farewell, with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic on 4 October. There he conducted Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, returning to an orchestra he led as artistic and musical director between 2000 and 2005.

Born in Warsaw in 1939, Janowski developed his career through both opera and symphonic music. His work has taken him across major European musical centres, with institutional associations in Germany, France, Switzerland and Monaco, as well as the United States.

That geographical breadth gives the final months of his career the character of a series of separate departures. Each concert closes a particular relationship between conductor, musicians and audience, even as further engagements remain on the calendar.

The Zurich programme also offered a compact contrast between two symphonic worlds: the relative intimacy of Schubert’s Fifth and the dramatic breadth of Beethoven’s Third. It required no specially commissioned farewell work to mark the occasion.

For audiences following Janowski’s last season, the distinction between individual farewells and retirement itself is important. Zurich has said goodbye, but the published schedule places the conclusion of his conducting career later in the year.