Thea Derks studied English and Musicology. In 1996, she completed her studies in musicology cum laude at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in contemporary music and in 2014 published the critically acclaimed biography 'Reinbert de Leeuw: man or melody'. Four years on, she completed 'An ox on the roof: modern music in vogevlucht', aimed especially at the interested layperson. You buy it here: https://www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/een-os-op-het-dak/9789012345675 In 2020, the 3rd edition of the Reinbertbio appeared,with 2 additional chapters describing the period 2014-2020. These also appeared separately as Final Chord.
In a sold-out Geertekerk in Utrecht, Camerata Trajectina exuberantly celebrated its fortieth anniversary yesterday. In those four decades, the ensemble has worked tirelessly to put the Dutch song repertoire from the Middle Ages to the Golden Age on the map, not only on stages, but also on sound carriers. Entirely in style, attendees were treated to a varied...
After the world premiere of Words & Beyond II: Nan Sul Hun by Seung-Won Oh yesterday at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, the audience stood up as one to applaud Slagwerk Den Haag and the soloists. It was therefore a magical performance, which will be repeated at De Doelen in Rotterdam and at Theater aan de...
After years of concerts in the 'Red Box' on the A2, AVROTROS' De Vrijdag van Vredenburg on Radio 4 returned to the centre of Utrecht last summer. The new TivoliVredenburg was built entirely around Vredenburg's former Great Hall, renowned worldwide for its fabulous acoustics. Many a tear was shed at the reopening. To a new hall belongs...
This Sunday, September 28, the one-day festival Alba Rosa Viva will take place in Utrecht, in honour of the 125th birth anniversary of Alba Rosa Viëtor. Alba Rosa who?!!! Well, Alba Rosa Viëtor was an Italian violinist and composer who was born Alba Rosa in Milan in 1889. In 1919, she married Dutch businessman Jan Freseman Viëtor and in...
Last night, Ukrainian composer Anna Korsun (1986, Donetsk) won the coveted Gaudeamus Music Prize in TivoliVredenburg. This consists of a cash prize of €4550, which serves as an honorarium for a new composition that will have its world premiere in a subsequent instalment. The international jury, consisting of composers Vanessa Lann (Netherlands), Oscar Bianchi (Switzerland) and Wim Hendericx (Belgium) chose her unanimously from...
Tonight begins the international Gaudeamus Music Week, in which five composers under 30 compete for the coveted Gaudeamus Music Prize. The jury, consisting of Vanessa Lann, Oscar Bianchi and Wim Henderickx selected them from eighty entrants from all over the world. It is the fourth edition in Utrecht of the competition, which started in 1951 in Bilthoven; the new TivoliVredenburg serves as the festival centre....
The performance Trabe Dich, Thierlein by Graindelavoix has barely begun when the first protests sound, directed against the blinding light of a slowly rotating spotlight in the otherwise unlit Great Hall of TivoliVredenburg. Shortly afterwards, some visitors leave and gradually the trickle of runaways swells. But after more than an hour and a half, the stayers reward the Belgian ensemble with an enthusiastic...
For the second consecutive year, the Festival of Early Music is organising a Laboratory, in which young creators can learn about their craft. This year's programme features Medea by Czech composer Georg Benda. This 'melodrama', an alternation of spoken text with music, was a resounding success at its premiere in 1775. Musicologist Jed Wentz and scholar Mary Helen Dupree revived it...
The 300-strong audience stood up as one after Leonard Bernstein's infectious performance of Candide at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam last night. The performance of this 'pocket version' of Bernstein's cheerful musical/opera about the incorrigible optimist Candide, produced by the Nationale Reisopera, took place indoors, in the hotel's ballroom, due to the weather conditions. After all, the Grachtenfestival has to be...
Last night marked the 50th edition of the Organ Festival in Haarlem was graced with a concert in the Grote or St Bavo church by organists Ton Koopman and Olivier Latry. The voluminous book The Haarlem Essays gepresented, detailing the renaissance of the improvisation competition founded in 1951. The atmosphere in the sold-out church was supreme.
Jubilation and cheers echoed last night in the sold-out Great Hall of the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ after the Dutch premiere of Delusion of the Fury of Harry Partch at the Holland Festival. No wonder, as the performance directed by Heiner Goebbels was titillating and the performance by the - conductorless - MusikFabrik perfect.
In Catholic Limburg, I was taught catechism every week in primary school. "What are we here on earth for?", asked Mr pastor. With the whole class we droned out the answer: "To become happy here and in the hereafter." A similar question occurred to me last night during the performance of the opera Faust by Charles Gounod at The National Opera. "To what end do we go to the theatre?" For me, the answer is: "To be touched, purified, yes maybe even happy." Given the rave reviews, I expected that this would indeed be the case.
In 2001, when Rotterdam was European Capital of Culture, a number of institutions joined forces and from this, in 2005, the Rotterdam Opera Days born. The aim is to programme innovative musical theatre in the opera house-less Maasstad after all, often in unusual locations. This year the ninth edition will take place, from 17 to 25 May, with the theme 'brotherhood'.
For the umpteenth time in its more than 30 years of existence, the colourful Concertzender going down. That is why there will be a benefit concert at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam. Greats like Liza Ferschtman, Yuri Honing, Erik Bosgraaf and the Ragazze Quartet will perform for free, to support the station that broadcasts so many live recordings of their concerts. I myself started my career as a radio producer there in 1995, so I would say: come all, and donate generous! For less than two tonnes a year, the station will stay on air.
Today, Leporello Publishers in Amstelveen published my long-awaited biography Reinbert de Leeuw: man or melody, on which I worked for more than seven years. The book is on sale at several bookstores in Amsterdam and can be ordered through any bookstore in the Netherlands. When I attended a concert conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw in early 2005, I discussed with a number of...
For years he was a conductor who also composed, but after operas such as Le balcon and Angels in America Hungarian Peter Eötvös (1944) is now a composer who also conducts. On Friday 21 February, he leads the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn in the Dutch premiere of his Violin Concerto No 2, DoReMi, which he composed in 2012 for Japanese violinist Midori. - I spoke to him last week.
Tonight, Feb 14 honours the North Netherlands Orchestra at the Oosterpoort in Groningen Simeon ten Holt, who died in 2012, with the world premiere of his orchestral work Centri-fuga, which he completed in 1979. It has never been performed to this day and will be christened tonight by conductor David Porcelijn. After the interval, Ten Holt's magnum opus will also be heard Canto ostinato for four pianos, performed by Sandra and Jeroen van Veen, Fred Oldenburg and Irene Russo. Earlier this week, other pianists also performed it at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Reinbert de Leeuw turned seventy-five last September, but already in May the VPRO honoured him with three full-length broadcasts on Radio 4. Together with Aad van Nieuwkerk, I made a selection from his best recordings of Kagel, Ustvolskaya and Louis Andriessen, among others, about which I also let him speak. This was followed in September by a real Reinbert festival and his own magazine. The magazine not only highlighted him...
With a spot-on performance of Mendelssohn's Second Piano Trio, the Storioni Trio concluded last night's opening concert of the Storioni Festival at the Frits Philipszaal in Eindhoven. Spread across six different halls in five cities in Brabant, they will present an ambitious programme, featuring befriended musicians and composers.
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