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ACTUAL

All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.

With Odysseus, Calliope and Awoiska confront us with the consequences of our human actions in the here and now.

A stormy journey full of virtuosity and drama marks the new work Odysseus by two Dutch artists: Calliope Tsoupaki (Composer of the Fatherland) and Awoiska van der Molen (visual artist/photographer).Odysseus confronts us with the consequences of our human actions. Odysseus - by Calliope Tsoupaki, premiere. - 10 Nov to 2 Dec What happens when we are in danger of losing control, when an action leads to irreversible... 

Read More "With Odysseus, Calliope and Awoiska confront us with the consequences of our human actions in the here and now.

November Music presents Children's Art Music Route on Sunday, November 7, 2021

Thinking up your own music, directing a group of musicians or playing with colourful synthesizers? There is also plenty to do for younger audiences during the November Music 2021 festival! Visit the very first edition of the KinderKunstmuziekRoute in 's-Hertogenbosch on Sunday 7 November 2021 and create your own music! The presentation of "So You Think You can Write a String Quartet?!" is on Wednesday 10 November. Or drop by for the... 

Read More "November Music presents Children's Art Music Route on Sunday, November 7, 2021

'A big iconic building with a park around it'. Culture Councils Amsterdam and Rijk set high bar for Slavery Museum

The Dutch Slavery Museum has moved a step closer, now that the Arts Council (Amsterdam) and the Council for Culture (Rijk) have issued an opinion on the exploration of a direction group presented earlier this year. This satisfies official procedural due diligence, although establishing the necessary museum in this way seems likely to take at least as much time.... 

Read More "'A big iconic building with a park around it'. Culture Councils Amsterdam and Rijk set high bar for Slavery Museum

Review Hebriana: Dead-end lives

Put three neurotic sisters with their mother hen and errant brothers-in-law together in a parental holiday villa with beautifully translated text by Las Norén and you're bound to get some nasty Scandinavian family stuff. But luckily there is the wafting acquaintance Axel, a convincing role by Mark Rietman. Already at the start of the performance with the tableau de la troupe alongside... 

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Podcast on the accordion's orchestral power: Blood Chorale by Toeac at November Music 2021.

The link between the Orpheus myth and Arnhem potenrammers is more obvious than you might think. At least, if your name is Peer Wittenbols and you are one of the country's best playwrights. That you can also think of accordions as part of that is, in turn, extraordinary. Still, Blood Coral, a performance by accordion duo Toeac, with a lead role for Jack Wouterse on a text that promises... 

Read More "Podcast on the accordion's orchestral power: Blood Chorale by Toeac at November Music 2021.

'Think about your life before something bad happens to you'. The latest interview with Ruud ten Wolde

For RTL-Boulevard reporter Ruud ten Wolde (29), these weeks would be dominated by his book Ill Happy, which comes in at number 1 in the Bestseller 60 this week, in which he writes about his illness and the insights it has brought him. Although he had been ill for six years, he still died suddenly recently. We spoke to him five... 

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Festival Circolo: relaxed and sunny festival celebrates circus innovation without glitz

A campfire, primeval hamburgers and flammkuchen with bacon and cream, as well as coffee with oat milk and remarkably many loose buns in Tilburg's Leijpark. White wine, kombucha and speciality beer. Some people get pimples from such combinations, but it felt remarkably good, last Monday at Festival Circolo. The hipster folk, considered super sustainable, mixed effortlessly with the burgundian Brabanter, so in... 

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Jam-packed opening weekend of Festival Circolo - Audiences' ears and eyes are in short supply during first weekend of Netherlands' biggest circus festival

After two years of dreaming and planning, today is finally the day: Festival Circolo - the largest circus festival in the Netherlands - is back! From 22 to Sunday 31 October, Tilburg's Leijpark will transform into an oasis full of spectacle, acrobatics and humour. Framed by the beautiful autumnal colours of the park, visitors will be treated to modern circus of international top level.... 

Read More "Jam-packed opening weekend of Festival Circolo - Audiences' ears and eyes are in short supply during first weekend of Netherlands' biggest circus festival

Stille Nacht Am Silbersee is a unique musical sound poem: 'A single word can evoke a world.' #novembermusic

'Every time I go to a beach, I see the sea through a filter of all the texts written about the sea.' Writer Joachim Robbrecht, at the request of Romain Bisschoff and together with writer brother Artun Alaska Arasli, created a sound poem for Ensemble Silbersee. During November Music, the work will finally premiere, after it had been a year... 

Read More "Stille Nacht Am Silbersee is a unique musical sound poem: 'A single word can evoke a world.' #novembermusic

Jan-Peter De Graaff composes Parallax: 'I show how much effort people put into creating their own world' #novembermusic

Jan-Peter de Graaff (b. 1992) is and thinks big. As an islander, raised on Terschelling as a child of musicians, he also perhaps perceives things a little differently from the peripheral city. The height of the sky, the nothingness of a strip of land surrounded by the movement and power of water; they suggest infinity and the mystery of higher powers. That perspective... 

Read More "Jan-Peter De Graaff composes Parallax: 'I show how much effort people put into creating their own world' #novembermusic
Botero

Why never say, 'Botero, that's that fat-woman painter, isn't it?

Mons (Mons), a Walloon pinhead on the French border, became European Capital of Culture in 2015. To everyone's surprise. The city presents its umpteenth major exhibition this autumn and winter: Fernando Botero, beyond the forms. 3 questions are addressed in this story: 1) How does a small city like Mons get all that done? 2) Why never say:... 

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'NOW support saved us, but creates a lot of extra workload afterwards.'

At the end of July, we posted an appeal by the UWV on this site. The benefit agency sounded the alarm because few cultural organisations had yet completed their final application for corona support. If they had not submitted the application corresponding to the advance received earlier before 31 October, they would have to repay that advance anyway. Every reason to take a... 

Read More "'NOW support saved us, but creates a lot of extra workload afterwards.'

Nina Hiddema, director a.i. of the Netherlands Reisopera: 'Nicolas Mansfield's succession is going to take some time to complete

'A sorcerer's apprentice? It is really not the case that Josef Fuchs could and would single-handedly bend an entire application process to his will. That is pertinently untrue and I even find it damaging to his person.' Nina Hiddema reacts vehemently to our article on Josef Fuchs' remarkable job title, and the change in it. Hiddema explains: 'I am... 

Read More "Nina Hiddema, director a.i. of the Netherlands Reisopera: 'Nicolas Mansfield's succession is going to take some time to complete

The dizzying void is literally at the heart of L'absolu during Festival Circolo

For those who love acrobatics and existential questions of life, Boris Gibé's L'absolu is a valhalla. The extraordinary spectacle can be admired during Festival Circolo in Tilburg. In an empty silo at a height of 12 metres, acrobat (and metaphysician) Gibé confronts the audience with the big questions of life. With his act, he shows that circus and art can go hand in... 

Read More "The dizzying void is literally at the heart of L'absolu during Festival Circolo

Lucho Smit's unique take on circus innovation: 'Everything already exists, we just make different connections' #festivalcircolo

'I often wonder why I keep doing what I do. I do circus, but I don't just want to tell stories, I want to act, I want to live up to my beliefs and my values. And by acting, I don't mean eating organic food, sorting my waste and donating to Greenpeace, no ; I really want to contribute to all those issues I... 

Read More "Lucho Smit's unique take on circus innovation: 'Everything already exists, we just make different connections' #festivalcircolo

Jolanda Spoel seamlessly forges hip-hop and classical together in Melomaniac. And that is quite difficult

'They come from two worlds, but work together towards something that is one. Jolanda Spoel has done that perfectly'. Katinka Reinders, head of education at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, is enthusiastic after one of the first play-in performances of Melomaniac at Maas Theatre & Dance. Just now, a room full of somewhat timid secondary school students turned into a churning group of lovers of... 

Read More "Jolanda Spoel seamlessly forges hip-hop and classical together in Melomaniac. And that is quite difficult

New at Festival Circolo: The stage is at least as exciting when you can only hear it.

During Tilburg circus festival Circolo, you can experience it, if you want to, and certainly if you can't help it: audio description. Especially for the blind and visually impaired, the festival offers the services of Komt Het Zien, a company specialising in live description of what is on stage in front of you. Founder Arlette Hanson, is one such... 

Read More "New at Festival Circolo: The stage is at least as exciting when you can only hear it.

Forever a little uprooted. New novel Jesús Carrasco is a portrait of contemporary Spain

Back Home, the new novel by Spanish writer Jesús Carrasco (49) is not only a portrait of a family and two generations, but also a portrait of Spain itself. 'Today's literature gives social groups a voice they didn't have before.' Three years of work and two complete novels ended up in the dustbin before Jesús Carrasco wrote his new novel Back... 

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'Smash the crystal ball. Empathise with future generations!' - About Digital Decisiveness #2

Perhaps the COVID pandemic did not itself create unprecedented inventions and new things, but unexpected things that were already there suddenly came to the fore. Like podcasts, like online art, like new views on leadership and a different way of looking at the future. Very briefly, this is what you take away from the total of eight hours of... 

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Hawar Tawfiq composes Bosch Requiem 2021 - To be heard exclusively during November Music 2021 and in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ

Not a standard death mass, but an ode to life. Iraqi-Dutch composer Hawar Tawfiq has been commissioned by festival November Music and Ammodo Fonds to compose a brand new Bosch Requiem in which he opts for a very personal musical approach. With his Requiem des fleurs et des nuages, Tawfiq joins the ranks of earlier Bosch Requiem composers such as Kate Moore, Calliope Tsoupaki and Seung-Won... 

Read More "Hawar Tawfiq composes Bosch Requiem 2021 - To be heard exclusively during November Music 2021 and in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ

Great, scintillating Trojan Wars from National Theatre

Dance and ballet, drama with gory atrocities and clattering emotions, imaginative lighting, set and costume effects and, above all, enthusiasm bursting forth. HNTjong's 'biggest production ever' with 30 actors for 50 roles is overwhelming. Thanks also to the corona crisis: the National Theatre had to postpone the performance for a year and a half and lift it over two summer holidays, with all the misery... 

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CALL: Are you an independent entrepreneurial artist in Amsterdam and have you been or are you affected by the consequences of the corona crisis? Then the UvA is looking for you!

A request came in from the University of Amsterdam. After all, they like to get in touch with independent artists. Only from Amsterdam, admittedly, but still. We share the main part of the request here. Research on self-employed artists in times of crisis The corona crisis has (had) a major impact on self-employed artists. The University of Amsterdam is investigating the impact of the corona crisis on... 

Read More "CALL: Are you an independent entrepreneurial artist in Amsterdam and have you been or are you affected by the consequences of the corona crisis? Then the UvA is looking for you!

The big question of online gathering: who will show us the way to the bar? #Digitaladventure 1

A virtual gun, which, when you shoot it, does not fire a bullet but displays a pop-up with encyclopaedic information about what you have just fired at. Now if only we fought the next war with that. It was conceived by Iranian artist Ali Eslami, who was forced by the lockdown to use his international network to develop... 

Read More "The big question of online gathering: who will show us the way to the bar? #Digitaladventure 1

No.10 of the Van Warmerdams: great pleasure, until you start dreaming of it

With Orkater, I grew into theatre as a student. In the house here is the DVD box with Alex van Warmerdam's first seven delightful films, which I still watch back regularly, now together with the youngest generation learning and enjoying. Then I smile daily at the spines of his curious books, such as the fine collection of poetry 'I created the world'.... 

Read More "No.10 of the Van Warmerdams: great pleasure, until you start dreaming of it

From 'artistic director' to 'deputy artistic director': what is Josef Fuchs' position at the Netherlands Reisopera?

Last Monday, 20 September, the Nederlandse Reisopera presented its programme for the upcoming season. The speaker was Josef Fuchs, who was introduced as the company's new artistic director by its general director a.i. Nina Hiddema. A festive occasion, which caused slight surprise in the small gathering (a few journalists and some colleagues). In an interview (below... 

Read More "From 'artistic director' to 'deputy artistic director': what is Josef Fuchs' position at the Netherlands Reisopera?

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