Petra Gerritsen goes to a concert almost every night off. 'You're with your own group. But how bad is that?'

'I work five nights a week and so I have to find out specifically when I can go to a concert. Sometimes I take time off for it. And then they do say, "hey, are you going to a concert again already?", and I say, "of course I'm going to a concert again". But I don't think it's extreme either.' Petra Gerritsen is a process expert at PostNL and very regularly visits a concert in TivoliVredenburg. 'I go once a week on average, sometimes three times. Since a year and a half I have been working five evenings a week. Before that it was three evenings, so I had a bit more space and could shift a bit more.'

Secret transmitter

She came to Utrecht in 1988, to study at the art academy. Although she came from a reformed nest on the Veluwe, pop music was her main reason for attending concerts: 'With us, pop music was 'secret channel' music. We listened to Father Abraham and Bonnie St-Clair. I went to church every week. From the age of 14, I became interested in more alternative music. Vara's Verrukkelijke Vijftien, for example. I also started listening to VPRO. I think it started with The Simple Minds and U2. At secondary school in Nunspeet, I was already thinking: I have to leave here. That's why I started doing MBO fashion, and then the art academy in Utrecht.'

In Utrecht, Petra became a regular visitor to Tivoli Oudegracht; she rarely visited Muziekcentrum Vredenburg. By now, her musical tastes are broader; she also attends classical concerts very regularly. 'I started listening to classical music more because a friend asked me to go along to a series of classical symphonies. That got me more interested in it.'

Blending

That her tastes have broadened, she says, is not necessarily because of the new building. 'In any case, the atmosphere cannot be compared. That old building had something, of course. Many people mourned that, saying it could never be what it was, but I think it's fine, the new TivoliVredenburg.'

She does have her doubts as to whether there is actually mixing between the different audience groups: 'The idea was, that if everything was in one building, there would be a kind of... that all the people would get together after those concerts. That pop lovers would chat together with classical music lovers. Well, I don't believe that. You're with your own group. But how bad is that? They are great ideas, but then they don't work out that way in practice.'

One aspect of that practice she does like: 'I especially like the festivals. I have been visiting Transition and Le Guess Who? for a few years now. That makes it easier for me to come into contact with other genres. Then everything is open to everyone and you are not led straight into a hall. You can go in anywhere. The building lends itself very well to that. But you can only do that at festivals. You can't open up the whole building so much that everyone can just walk in and out everywhere. If you really want to let people get to know each other, that would be the best, but of course that doesn't work. If you're at a classical concert and people are walking in and out all the time? That doesn't work.'

Spotify

To decide where to go, Petra follows her own preferences, but she also relies on tips from others: "I just don't know enough about some genres, like classical music and jazz, to be able to decide where to go. This is becoming less so, though, as I recognise more and more names, which I owe to those festivals. That's why I like series. You have the Sunday Afternoon Jazz, which is then about eight times.'

'I couldn't get my brother to come with me because I do a lot with him, but on Sundays he is at football. Another friend preferred not to commit on weekends, so now I decided to do that series alone. I get things out of that too. Then I look up the music on Spotify, there I can continue listening. I also write down a lot, because my memory for that kind of thing is not too good. Around my computer it is completely full of lists with artists' names.'

Volkskrant

'For pop, I regularly check the website under 'Just confirmed' to see if there are any new acts I want to go and see. Unlike with classical, this is not fixed a year in advance. That's also nice. You don't need to have everything fixed to experience nice things.'

She reads reviews from time to time: 'I read the Volkskrant and I usually go to the art page first. If there are reviews of new records, I will scan them to see if there is something that appeals to me immediately. The stars often don't say everything, but usually I deduce from my own experience. If I have seen a particular artist before, I can check my opinion against the review. Then I also learn which person writes the way I often think too. But then again: you still want to listen for yourself first. I am not good at names of reviewers, but I think Gijsbert Kamer is a good one, who often agrees with my opinion.'

Enthusiastic

And then there are the introducers to classical music. Essential, according to Petra: "I do choose who I sit with. There are leaders I can listen to very well, and people who come with a very technical story, of which I think: what are you talking about? I've been a few times, and then I write the name down if I'm not satisfied. But there is also one lady, and I do like going there: Thea Derks. She is always very enthusiastic and knows how to get things across. Others sometimes don't add anything. Then you just sit and listen and don't know what it's about'.

Other stories in this series:

Forty times a year to TivoliVredenburg: 'You get everywhere if you love music, eh.'

Forty times a year to TivoliVredenburg: 'You get everywhere if you love music, eh.'