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Conductor Han-Na Chang: 'Music never offers just one answer'
'She is the embodiment of the incredible lightness of existence, agile, alert and precise on the beat.' So says one critic about Korean-American conductor Han-Na Chang (Suwon, 1982), who led just about every major orchestra after her debut in 2007. In 2014, she scored highly at the renowned BBC Proms with her fresh interpretation of the Fifth Symphony....
Connie Palmen is the third woman to win Libris Literature Prize 2016
Connie Palmen won the 2016 Libris Literature Prize on Monday evening, 9 May, with her novel You say. In the long history of this literary award, which was first presented in 1994, Palmen is only the third woman to receive the €50,000 cash prize and a bronze medal. Previous winners were Frieda Vogels (1994) and D. Hooijer (2008).
Nell Zink: 'Writing is only good when it sounds good and doesn't... hurt'
She came, saw and conquered. Until recently, Nell Zink was almost the embodiment of the cliché image of the poor writer, alone in an attic room. But when American writer Jonathan Frantzen touted her work, she grew into literary hype in no time. Her publisher gave her a six-figure advance. From nobody to 'Her Nellness' -...
Meena Kandasamy: militant like a (Tamil) tiger
She is small and petite, but as militant as a (Tamil) tiger. Indian writer Meena Kandasamy (1984) prefers to break with all conventions, and the word is her weapon. No Bollywood Anyone who thinks, based on the cover and the author's name, that The Gypsy Goddess is a sweet 'Bollywood novel' will be deceived. Meena Kandasamy's novel is about a true-life...
The Linda. but about beheadings and suicide bombings
That there is an extremist magazine about burnings and beheadings, and that rich Britons have four-storey basements built under their houses for a private cinema or bowling alley - we learned a lot last night at the International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU). The programme of the Saturday night of the ILFU was as richly varied as that of the first evening. The...
Filter Translation Award 2016 to translator Günter Grass
Jan Gielkens has won the Filter Translation Prize 2016 for his translation of The Words of Grimm by Günter Grass. The prize of ten thousand euros rewards the most exceptional translation achievement of the past year. Grass's novel, published last year by Meulenhoff, places high demands on the reader and the translator, the jury felt. 'Deftly navigates Gielkens'...
Harvey's hand only half full
Visitors either thought it was 'very cool' or they thought it was 'absolutely nothing' - PJ Harvey's reading, the opening act at tonight's International Literature Festival Utrecht, evoked totally opposite reactions. Rock diva PJ Harvey is not only a musician, but also a visual artist and poet. At ILFU, as the festival has been called since this year, she read from her...
Down with the novel pessimism
In times of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, what power does the novel still have? Every so often, fiction is declared dead, but the International Literature Fesitval Utrecht (formerly City2Cities), which takes place this coming weekend in the former post office on the Neude, wants to show that novel pessimists are completely wrong. Nine highlights from the programme. PJ Harvey The Literature House, like last...
Shortlist Man Booker International Prize-new style announced
José Eduardo Agualusa, Elena Ferrante, Han Kang, Orhan Pamuk, Robert Seethaler and Yan Lianke have a chance to win the Man Booker International Prize 2016. The shortlist of six authors and titles was announced today. And, coincidence or not, we already interviewed one of the major contenders. Read that interview with José Eduardo Agualusa here, take in what he says about...
Composer Julia Wolfe: 'John Henry symbolises the struggle of man versus machine'
Last year, Julia Wolfe (1958) won the Pulitzer Prize with her oratorio Anthracite Fields. In this poignant piece about the plight of miners, she draws on American folk music. She composed it for the co-founded Bang on a Can All-Stars, a New York ensemble that became known for its rousing mix of rock, mimal music and...
Frans Budé: 'A poem has to have a story'
In his recent collection Achter het verdwijnpunt, death plays an important role. Poet Frans Budé lost no fewer than four poet friends in a short time and honoured them in verse. The 70-year-old poet himself still writes as avidly as in his younger years: in addition to an occasional collection on the Maas, to be published in May, he wrote poems for the upcoming exhibition...
NRC in error: Daan Roosegaarde is not a thief because Ger van Elk is not unique
This Daan Roosegaarde is said to have made a huge fool of himself again. In any case, NRC Handelsblad reported that the man, who is under fire for not naming sources, has again committed plagiarism. For his contribution to the DWDD pop-up museum, a wildly successful thing by the world's fastest culture programme, he hung a whole row of seascapes in a room,...
José Eduardo Agualusa: 'I will not be silenced'
Writing cost him his marriage, he is being shadowed by the secret service and risks being arrested in Angola. But José Eduardo Agualusa, who has a chance of winning the 2016 Man Booker International Prize with his new novel A General Theory of Forgetting, does not hesitate to put down his pen. 'I won't let myself...
Peter Sellars: 'This opera is a paradise on earth.'
What does the future of opera look like? The National Opera tries to answer this in the Opera Forward Festival: new visions new voices, organised for the first time this year to mark its 50th anniversary. The ten-day festival kicks off 15 March with the world premiere of Only the Sound Remains by Kaija Saariaho. About...
Kaija Saariaho on her new opera: "Peter Sellars is not appreciated"
Huge, deep black shadows fall on a backdrop of calligraphic foliage in every conceivable shade of grey. Director Peter Sellars intently follows the movements of the three main characters during a run-through of 'Feather Mantle' at De Nationale Opera. Together with 'Always Strong', this short opera forms the double-bill Only the Sound Remains by Kaija Saariaho with which 15 March's Opera Forward Festival...
Bep Rietveld could do at least 1 thing better than her father
The great thing about visiting openings is that sometimes you get to experience something that no one expected. Like at the mini-exhibition 'Bep Rietveld, daughter of...' at Kunstruimte Kuub in Utrecht. It features 72 paintings by the daughter of Gerrit Rietveld, the man who gave De Stijl its furniture and houses. This Bep, not without merit with the paintbrush, created a...
Winternachten gives audience a bigger voice
International literary festival Winternachten wants to involve the public more in its programmes next year. 'Audiences increasingly want to have a say,' says director Ton van de Langkruis. 'That can be done in all kinds of ways, we are now brooding on that.' Winternachten attracted some 7300 visitors this year, equalling last year's attendance. Last edition's theme was 'Hello Darkness', and...
Composer Joey Roukens: 'In my new Violin Concerto, I explore my lyrical side'
Joey Roukens (Schiedam, 1982) studied composition at Rotterdam Conservatory and took private piano lessons with Ton Hartsuiker. Since graduating in 2006, he has been able to reach a large audience with his energetic, infectious music. Commissions are pouring in, from no small number of clients. He has already written two pieces for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Out of Control (2011) and Chase...
An Eco is an Eco is an Eco
'Someone like Umberto is of greater value on earth than in heaven.' Actor Roberto Benigni, known for films like La vita è bella, said goodbye to his friend Umberto Eco (1932-2016) at his funeral at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan on Tuesday. Eco's grandson also spoke and thanked his grandfather for the stories told, the crossword puzzles, the books and music...
Reading theatre yourself. The best way to learn about theatre.
There is one thing almost as much fun as going to see a play. According to some, it is even more fun than going to see a play: reading a play yourself. And then not by yourself, but with a few others. That you divide the roles and start reading aloud. With a cup of tea, coffee or a glass of wine on the side....
David Vann: 'In every book again, I give up my sense of shame'
In the flat where he is temporarily staying, David Vann (1966) hangs out on the sofa a bit, tired from busyness and late nights as a result of phone calls to the other side of the world. Not too long ago, Vann's marriage stranded, not without a fight, and the legal settlement is still ongoing. He sighs: 'It was the worst...
It's time for a 'slave-free art' seal of approval #tegendebakker
Making art is too much fun and too unnecessary. People really like making art, and really want to show it off. So much so, that they are the only ones doing their contribution to an art event for free. While all other contributors are simply paid. Thus, the art world, including the subsidised one, is one of the places in the Netherlands where slavery is still common. It...
A scene that sticks with you in: Spectre. A psalm as a warm-up for sex.
Every stage show, film, or concert has a scene that touches you. A moment that evokes emotion, amazement, or perhaps disgust. Even in director Sam Mendes' James Bond film Spectre, there is such a moment that stays with you. It concerns the excerpt in which classical music, namely the aria Cum dederit from Antonio Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus RV 608,...
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