Anything for which people enter a stage.
The wind players of the jongNBE (young Dutch Wind Ensemble) will support War Child's campaign Doorbreek het zwijgen (Break the Silence) in the coming month. In the Netherlands, everyone has lived in freedom for 75 years, but 149 million children grow up in war zones. With this campaign, War Child wants to raise as much money as possible for these children, so they can enjoy playing together, playing sports...
Musicians' society Splendor has survived the corona crisis so far, despite the fact that the two halls could not be used, rehearsal rooms fell and the bar could not open. Mattijs van der Woerd, baritone, talks about it in our podcast/video. How is it possible, such a small concert hall standing so strong? The secret, which also keeps Culture Press afloat, and which this month also...
A few months ago, I reported via this site that Eurovision Song Contest wanted an orchestra to perform, for less than no money. The post, including follow-ups, was read just under a hundred thousand times, so can be assumed somewhat familiar. Yesterday, I received a press release from a rather expensive public relations agency, which the culture world took action on...
Of course, it takes Italians to make this poetic statement about the Netherlands, the headline of this article. The old Italian saying refers to the carillon that signals time in public spaces. Typical tradition of the Low Countries. Since the fourteenth century. Nice and practical, of course, because then the whole city knows what time it is. Does everyone hear hits from the...
A rainy day in #coronaquarantine seems like the ideal time to listen to a CD about fire. So I slide Todos los fuegos el fuego by Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin into the laptop. 'All fires the fire' is named after Julio Cortázar's collection of eight short stories of the same name. The CD also has eight songs, which together...
Albania's National Theatre, recently declared a protected monument by Europa Nostra, was unexpectedly destroyed on Sunday, 17 May, after two years of protests. Early in the morning, when it was still dark, the bulldozers came. A sudden wave of policemen wearing mouth caps chased activists and artists out of the theatre and formed a cordon around the audience....
'I did get startled at first by being so laconic under the lockdown. I thought: don't I care enough to step over it so lightly? I also fully understand that people are very sad that it's all off, but apparently I'm a bit more fatalistic about that.' Greg Nottrot, playwright and enigma maker,...
'At the beginning of March we were still a bit smiley about the virus, but a week later it became clear to me that we would be in serious trouble this year.' Johan Gijsen, director and founder of the Utrecht-based festival that brings together the most surprising artists from all genres of the international music world every November, is still visibly...
Helemaal van nu, deze nieuwe cd van de Australische componist Liza Lim (1966) die onlangs verscheen op Kairos. Automatisch beluister je Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus in de context van de corona-pandemie. Zijn we op weg naar een totale ondergang? De onheilspellende titel verwijst naar Lims bezorgdheid over de enorme hoeveelheden plastic die de oceanen verstikken. De vissen die dit…
'I have only met one person for more than 3 minutes in five weeks. I live alone, I see people at the groceries, I take walks and bike rides, but apart from that I don't see anyone live.' Rainer Hofmann, artistic director of Spring, is experiencing a very different spring than intended, thanks to Corona. This month, the major Utrecht festival of innovative art was supposed to...
When corona measures were declared on Thursday 12 March, it felt surreal at first. The next day, the world premiere of Willem Jeths' opera Ritratto fell through. I had been looking forward to this immensely, just like all the other productions in the Opera Forward Festival. Besides, I was in the midst of preparations for numerous introductions the next...
We are fairly bombarded to death with online theatre experiences. Frankly, I avoid them. I always thought theatre was something to be experienced live. Bobbing shoes are terrible, visible consumption when speaking is something I can't stand at the moment and the sound is always mediocre. I want live theatre, and nothing else. Leave TV to the TV makers, they have studied for that. Still...
Thanks to the informal tambour, this music storyteller sees a mega opportunity. Trio The Big Three. That's what I want to talk about. By which, for once, I do not mean the Flemish Damiaan Denys, Paul Verhaeghe and Dirk de Wachter. Writers Harry, Gerard and Willem F. I also leave out. Ask the listeners of this Music Storyteller and they will surely know how to help you:....
'If you can put only a quarter, or even less, in a hall that normally holds 600 people, then the tickets do become very expensive, because your costs don't change. Then my popular heart starts beating again: should we really want something so elitist?' Bernard van Gellekom is an important figure in the Amersfoort pop scene. In his home...
The Advisory Multi-Year Policy Plan Arts and Culture 2021-2024 for The Hague was presented online on Friday 24 April. What stands out for dance in this City of Dance? Inclusion and diversity What at least stands out is that in the plan, the word 'inclusion' appears 110 times and 'diversity' 96 times. Then you know what time it is. Yet the Advisory Committee also gives...
'We would have actually been presented with the award last week at the premiere of Grimm. That was our big production this season that was to play 30 times. But after the second rehearsal, we were able to stop. It seriously looks like we won't be seen in theatres this year. When in autumn the...
'Yes, of course it was something we already saw coming in every way. That made me mentally prepared. But then when you actually hear about it... It's just SO sour. It's every time - I don't blame anyone, to be clear - but every time you get bad news, you try...
It is with great regret that the Holland Festival is forced to cancel the 73rd edition, which was to take place from 4 to 28 June 2020. The corona pandemic's persistent, domestic and foreign restrictions and uncertainties make it impossible for the international performing arts festival to take place. The ongoing, restrictive measures that the central government had to announce 21 April last,...
80 million it should cost, and it should hold a lot of people, with three theatres, and it should all happen on the lot now occupied by the Theater aan de Parade in Den Bosch. That has proved so difficult that there has been fuss about it since 2006. Now there is a draft, approved and all, of...
‘Afgelopen (Stille, red.) zaterdag waagden we het weer eens om bij vrienden te gaan eten, mijn man en ik. We waren het zat om het alleen maar over Corona te hebben. Toen hebben we afgesproken om een muziekavond te houden. We werken allemaal in de klassieke muziek, maar spraken af om juist géén klassieke muziek te luisteren. Het werd een…
We are now a good month after the start of the intelligent lockdown. Slowly, a new normal is beginning to emerge, where we are no longer exclusively fanatically following all the tweets about corona. The concerns are still there and certainly where the cultural sector is concerned. The entire sector, nationally and internationally, is engaged in the titanic task of keeping the public...
Maybe I am not looking closely but I miss in the various media, as I did years ago during the demolition policy, the role of amateur music practice on which many a musician depends. At the moment, the focus is partly on venues and theatres asking their visitors to accept vouchers or donate their tickets. Fine...
'When the lockdown came, we actually decided right away to continue, but online. So we opened digital studios.' Like so many others, the Hague Theatre House also entered the digital world of Zoom, the app with which Culture Press also records podcasts remotely. 'People rehearse for presentations and performances. We have created a talent environment for that. An online place with films,...
We always try to look for a bright spot anyway, but sometimes you just have to let it go. On Monday 6 April 2020, we brought you a post on how the corona crisis is having long after-effects, which have been casting their shadow for at least a year. Today, we talk to Victorine Plante and Erik Snel of Alum, the bringer of that first post. In the...
Earlier this week, Minister Van Engelshoven appealed to the public to start donating en masse "to your favourite (cultural) institution". She also hinted at her willingness to explore within the cabinet the extent to which donations to cultural institutions can be made extra attractive as an income tax deduction at this very moment. Meanwhile, however, within...
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