Concert & Congress hall De Doelen in Rotterdam will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. That is, 50 years ago, the current venue was festively opened. The building by architects Kraaijvanger and Fledderus was the first major public building of the reconstruction after German bombs destroyed the city on 10 May 1940. However, its name goes back much longer. The building destroyed in the German bombing of 1940 Doelenzaal had been completed in 1934, which in turn replaced the Great Target Room which opened on Coolsingel in 1844. And that in turn was a replacement for the hall of the marksmen's guild, the St George's Doele, which from 1679 was used for concerts given by city musicians.
The year 1679 has graced the Doelen's logo for some time now, just to show that Rotterdam has a history that goes back further than 1940. The city could only make that mental leap forward in the 21e century, after most of the pile drivers had disappeared from the city. Is the hall finished then? No, far from it. Well, the building lines are clear, the building is more or less the building. It did not even substantially change its character after the annexation of Codarts, the college for the performing arts.
Bricks vs substance?
But from within, it is brewing. It is now no longer about the building itself, which is in order. The main auditorium's stage was replaced almost a decade ago, halls were added, the catering on the outer ring is currently being upgraded, conventions no longer get in the way of artistic affairs - all that is now finished. The punchline now lies in the programming, the artistic space the hall has around the presence of its main occupant, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
Big in the front of the seasonal brochure, it appears how the venue takes care of business. Fifty years on, they are back: the Berliner Philharmoniker. Then led by Herbert von Karajan, now under the baton of outgoing chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle. This is something of a last chance, then: Rattle will leave for London in 2017 to succeed Valeri Gergyev, at the London Symphony Orchestra. The Berliner was the first foreign orchestra to perform at the Doelen. On 11 June 2016, in addition to chief Rattle, they will be joined by pianist Krystian Zimerman, one of the world's best recital pianists. Their signatures, like Karajan's, are already in the hall's guest book.
That book is full of names that mark where the classical and popular musical focus was in each decade. Big names from the popular genre too: chansonniers like Gilbert Bécaud, Mireille Matthieu (even before her days of German schlagers), Julien Clerc, but also - surprisingly - the greatest clown of all time, Popov.
Nose in the air
After the great wave of professionalisation in music from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, programming gradually became more serious. While the venue is still there for anyone with an interest in music, the big picture is still focused on art music, from classical to jazz, folk and world music. Quality is the key word. And next to that: presentation. Until about ten or twelve years ago, Dutch ensembles for contemporary music regularly took to the stage with their nose in the air, visibly wondering why on earth they had come all the way from Amsterdam to that insignificant spot on the river Meuse.
The venue is now striking back: the upcoming season features a Music for the Millions-Modern series. The idea is that much music considered modern not so long ago is now mainstream again. Pianists Ralph van Raat, Maarten van Veen, Bobby Mitchell and Guy Livingstone will play Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato, Colin Currie will come and play Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians', and Louis Andriessen (he, nota bene, struck the root of traditional classical concerts) will be represented with 'M is for Man, Music, Mozart'. Andriessen now establishment himself - don't let him hear it.
This programme complements the Red Sofa, a series framed by pre- and post-event talks with musicians, composers and others involved in the contemporary music to be played. In the anniversary season, this music comes mainly from Rotterdam itself, via music by composers who were once proclaimed 'Rotterdam School' by the Volkskrant. Not that anyone else took this very seriously. The composers active in Red Sofa City will care: Hans Koolmees, Robin de Raaf, Florian Magnus Maier, Vanessa Lann, Hayo Boerema, Joey Roukens and newcomer (because recently moved to Rotterdam) Elmer Schönberger. New music from the city of Rotterdam, played by ensembles and musicians with local roots - no label needed.
Trend break
In many more ways, the Programme of the Goals shows a break in trends. The new brochure is no longer a dry enumeration of who, what, where and when. It invites you to browse, to adventure. If you look for one thing, you will find another. Unexpected perspectives pop up, also in the cooperation with other cultural institutions in the city and the presentation before and after the concerts. Every genre is represented with top musicians. Singers Magdalena Kožená, Thomas Hampson and Anne Sofie von Otter, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and radio-4 presenter Lex Bohlmeijer, who is no longer hiding away in the box but pontifically talking concerts together on stage.
Guests for several days there are: the Chinese/American composer and conductor Tan Dun, the Catalan gamba player Jordi Savall with his ensemble Hispèrion XXI, for two full days, in the Doelen as well as in the Laurenskerk. And again and again, when contracting the musicians, the request is not only to come and perform but also to provide a master class at Codarts. Various disciplines are linked: dance and music theatre to concert music, children coming with their parents. Thus, partly through cooperation with other institutions, de Doelen is increasingly firmly established in the community, is there not only for musicians but also for the most diverse audiences imaginable.
Thus, after 50 years, De Doelen becomes what it so desperately wants to be: a centre where music from all corners of the world crosses the path of Rotterdam's citizens. Confident, up-to-date and shrugging off the disdain with which classical arts are so often treated. The recognition is also there from Rotterdam city council: the request has been made to give the Doelen the status of national monument.
23 per cent
And oh yes, compared to last year, all this also leads to 23% more subscription sales long before the season has started. Director Gabriel Oostvogel thinks this is mainly because, for the concert hall, it is music within the urban community that comes first, not sales figures. The government-imposed view that the market should determine what you do was simply reversed. It is again as it should be: supply determines demand and not the other way around. The old hall marks the vanguard. And it works. Win-win.
www.dedoelen.nl Season 2015/2016, brochures available at the venue, all information can also be found via the website.
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