Politically, the municipality of Noordwijk is not a paragon of civilisation, fortunately sporting - football, surfing - is doing much better and in terms of culture, the coastal municipality offers a wonderful palette of theatre, music and visual arts.
This is how we enjoyed last weekend, for the 24e time already, of Opera by the Sea. A gem of a festival that received occasional brief attention in national media, and will probably blow extra in the bus next year on its silver jubilee.
Smartest man
Always in spring and/or autumn, opera performances take place in gardens of Noordwijk villas, such as last days La Traviata and Don Pasquale and recitals by the Dutch-Iranian soprano Lilian Farahani and Francis van Broekhuizen (previously booked, now by The Smartest Man a BN'er). A fun outing this year was an 'Opera Revue with Willy & Johnny', an hour-long repertoire of Willy Alberti and Johnny Jordaan by tenors Jeroen de Vaal and Willem de Vries.
On Saturday I got to enjoy this in the garden of Klein Leeuwenhorst estate whose history dates back to the 13e century. Rustling trees, cackling geese flying overhead and a crowd fighting the inclement wind with a wine picnic. Because things could change in the last quarter of a century: one minute you're lying prince charming in the grass in the sunshine, the next you're having a bad time. In which case, on Saturday, the beautiful finale to the drama of Violetta's 'forbidden' love (Selma Harkink) and Alfredo (Jan Willem Schaafsma) in La Traviata fittingly coincided with the first rainstorm.
Canal Festival
And, last but not least, Opera aan Zee annually offers young talents the chance to perform their arias and duets in front of an audience. All this under the inspiring guidance of Jeroen Sarphatie (known from the Grachtenfestival 2019) , on the grand piano, the driving musical force of Opera aan Zee for many years. Tirelessly, Jeroen has performed many of the fine line-up of artists of Opera Aan Zee accompanied.
Gardens make a perfect setting in corona time, even if the seats were 1.5 metres apart to be sure and the evening inside - at Hotel Huis ter Duin - was limited in attendance. But Opera by the Sea never became massive; on the contrary, it is as wonderful as it is pleasant that usually only a few hundred people attend these performances. It is an elitist event, you almost only see well-to-do white elderly people, but thank God there is still room for this biotope. In terms of space, perhaps a bit too much, judging by the size of their gardens. But they make those available to Opera aan Zee.
And really for everyone, because thanks to donations and subsidies, no one has to stay away for the entrance fee. Opera aan Zee was even extra free to visit for years, with a friendly request for a donation; and even now, the organising couple Lenny Vulperhorst and Kunie Blom keep prices so low that anyone with an interest in opera can come. Especially in corona time, it shows how valuable this wonderful local tradition is.
Painting
The folding chairs have not yet been cleared and the grand piano collected or 'Lenny & Kunie' are already giving Noordwijk and the surrounding area the Painting festival of Noordwijk taking place for the 23rd time this week. Dozens of painters from home and abroad place their easels for a week along beach and dunes - serving wind and drifting sand - and village streets and exhibit their work directly; previously in a tent on the beach but now in Museum Noordwijk.
Such a festival literally and figuratively adds colour to a village. And here too: anyone with a small piggy bank can hang a tangible souvenir on the wall. I did it with a work by an 'artist in residence', the painter who in earlier years captured Opera aan Zee while painting.
Beautiful theatre
And if that wasn't enough, months of preparation for theatre play "What Would You Do?" came from Soap by the Sea last week to an apotheosis: 17-year-old Frederique is thrown back from 2020 to 1943 during a visit to the local Museum Engelandvaarders, and finds herself in the middle of the war. And then the most important life question becomes not whether you will post your video on Instagram or Tiktok, but what choices you make as a young woman: stand idly by as most Dutch people (had to) do, or enter the labyrinth of resistance with Nazi blockades and betrayal. Which choices do you make? How brave are you then?
A beautiful play in a combination of drama, historical film material and live music unfolded before an audience - limited in size by corona - in six afternoon and evening performances, partly with a visit to the fascinating Museum Engelandvaarders - recommended for schoolchildren. Bearer of Soap by the Sea is Martine Zeeman who, with her TheatreHouse cultivates a pool of talent from young people who more than once end up on higher theatre programmes
What remains of 'What would you do' is the trailer, but one can hope that this performance too may go beyond the boundaries of the village of Noordwijk. Also for the benevolent sponsors who make this possible such as Vfonds, Fonds 1818, VSB Fonds, Gravin van Bylandtsichting, and local sponsors Baalbergen Fonds and MoBoFoundation (Hotels van Oranje).
Art Sound
Not to mention the annual outdoor performances, often on the beach, by the foundation Art Sound in Noordwijk, as this year Summer trip 1.5 on the beautiful Calorama estate. Again, the combination of artistic creativity - led by the musically and theatrically gifted Herma van Piekeren, tireless efforts of volunteers and benevolent sponsors leading to a cultural highlight you can lean on for a while. Just get there on your bike, enjoy the effort and splendour outside with a friendly audience.
Which shows once again that you don't have to take the plane to experience happiness. We can still do so much and this wonderful, weird municipality of Noordwijk shows what that can lead to
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