6 Reasons why Holland Festival 2014 will be the best ever. And War Horse.

 "The only one who still dares to go for the elite". On the way to the car park under the Passengers Terminal Amsterdam, the retired newspaper reviewer who once had a page on music sighed at the feeling of his part of society. It was after the press conference where the programme of Holland Festival 2014 was presented. He was talking, as we sank deeper and deeper, about Pierre Audi, the artistic director of that Holland Festival, who this year announced his last - and most glorious - programme ever. Whether Pierre Audi was really what this grey eminence of reviewing thought he had been, I leave in the middle. The fact remains that after his ten-year leadership, one of the longest tenures ever, Audi has no intention of leaving quietly. And that he will mainly be remembered as a Holland Festival director who knew how to bridge borders like no other. Even now. So that is why he himself is one of the reasons why the 2014 edition could well be the best edition ever. Of the 156 other reasons, we will mention six for now.

1: Pierre Audi

Audi told Mieke van de Weij, hostess at his final press conference on 4 March, that after two difficult editions, 2012 and 2013, he had had enough. Lack of money, international collaborations that were difficult, economic malaise: time to pass on the torch after ten years. But he did not choose this metaphor. Probably for the first time in his long career, he allowed himself to joke with his surname: he left the car with the rental company, ready for the next rider. With a full tank. After this, it could only go on full throttle. We wonder if that car factory in Germany has already come up with the A10 model. And yes. Especially for Pierre's 10th edition. And we think it looks good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7_0axajfk8

2: Calliope Tsoupaki

We had her in our sights for a while: a Greek composer who could well be the best thing to happen to Greece since Zorba and Theodorakis: Calliope Tsoupaki. Why Pierre Audi loves her so much that he celebrates his farewell with her Oidipous becomes clear in a video Ellen Segeren made about her, for a previous festival edition, when we were still named after a dead sparrow.

3: Nono

Luigi Nono is a composer better known to the general public than the general public thinks. Almost every piece of modern music, in films, in opera, right down to games, is indebted to this music maker. To hear the piece Prometeo, performed at this Holland Festival as part of an entire programme dedicated to this great master, people travel all over the world. Listen and shudder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq2FeEeNZgs

4: Shara Worden

She's doing something classy now. With wigs. We already fell in love with her when she did something self-made with a ukulele on an Amsterdam canal.

 5: Alain Platel

Needs no introduction. Or at least it does. Since deep into the 1980s, this Flemish dance maker has been able to fuse people, dancers, madmen and artists into fantastic performances that leave no one untouched. The fact that he has a thing for Celine Dion is taken for granted. This time, he does something with Congolese 'Sapeurs'. Buy unseen.

6: Isabella Rosselini

The Daughter Of. In this case, Ingrid Bergman. She gives a lecture on the animal kingdom and especially the role love plays in it. It should be hilarious. And live.

7: War Horse

There is a trailer of the theatre production War Horse, which will make you turn into a crying toddler within three seconds. Technically perfect, made in every fibre to totally overwhelm you as a spectator. Although there will always be people who don't like it. I was floored after only three seconds. So therefore just some technical explanation now. And to think that the British call this an 'experiment' that they didn't actually intend for audiences.

Anyone who can already think of a reason why you should not go is welcome to comment in the comments. And anyone who uses the word 'elitist' will get the buzzer.