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Iván Fischer sets new Wagner standard

That Pierre Audi does not shy away from religious symbolism is well known, but the true miracle with Parsifal by the Netherlands Opera is in the pit. There, in the hands of master conductor Iván Fischer, the Concertgebouw Orchestra sets a new Wagner standard. Despite a gigantic orchestral strength, almost chamber music-like lightness, extraordinarily transparent and, thanks to careful tempo choices, with wonderful dramatic tension. Five hours long.

And that's just as well, because dramatic tension is...

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How a Martian looks at opera

Or: the familiar becomes utterly alien here. Or: embracing meaninglessness as the first principle. One hundred years after his birth, John Cage takes centre stage in HF weekend.
Ever since Reinbert de Leeuw played it in the fastest talk show on Dutch television, John Cage's 4'33" has been a well-known composition in our country. For exactly four minutes and thirty-three seconds, the musician does not play a single note and the audience hears nothing but the ambient sounds.

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Micha Hamel's Requiem is beautifully spatial but lacks substantive urgency #hf12

In his Requiem for tenor, narrator and ensemble, Micha Hamel makes the most of the space of Amsterdam's De Duif church. Musicians play on the altar, from the balconies, mingle among the audience and push out a piano. - But what does Hamel really want to say? In front of a sold-out house, Micha Hamel's Requiem premiered last night. He ... 

Read More "Micha Hamel's Requiem is beautifully spatial but lacks substantive urgency #hf12

Is Jan Willem de Vriend naive, or is he blatantly lying?

 We have already written at length about the Ajax situation in Enschede: orchestra and opera are at odds over an unexpected opera subsidy application by the orchestra. Startled by the ensuing commotion, some of those involved have since responded. It's just a damn shame that those reactions are not aligned.

Read More "Is Jan Willem de Vriend naive, or is he blatantly lying?

Eastern orchestras settle 40% rebate on musicians' salaries and union is sidelined

[recap] In order to avoid having to merge ánd bring in an extra half a million each, the orchestras in Overijssel and Gelderland made very ambitious plans. Which bear striking similarities. Both orchestras requested and received money from the province, albeit much less than requested. In theory, this would compensate for the reduction in the state subsidy, but that provincial money is mainly meant to reform the organisation. However, it is not enough for that. Not nearly enough...

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How two orchestras sold an international revenue model as regional

Recap: There are too many orchestras in the Netherlands, the government thinks, and so a few have to go. Or merge. Now that forced merging doesn't seem to go very heartily. But you can make money out of it. In Gelderland and Overijssel, this leads to bizarre scenes. It would have been comical if it hadn't cost so much money.
To bring in an extra five tonnes, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Gelderland Orchestra are pulling together. And with success: the provincial authorities of Overi...

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Orchestras in eastern Netherlands go slating

Nearly thirteen million The Gelderland Orchestra (HGO) asked for the province of Gelderland. It got three-and-a-half. Just enough to absorb the reduction in the state subsidy for the next two years and to work towards a new organisational structure and a new revenue model, as described in a very ambitious business plan, which...... wait a minute. We have already written about this, haven't we?

True. It is like two drops of water to our story about the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, the former Orkes...

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Amsterdam takes Netherlands Symphony Orchestra to court

We already wrote at length about the Orkest van het Oosten's name change to the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The curious opera grant application based on a business plan that carries huge risks also had our full attention. Permanent partner the National Travel Opera was not amused.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is also fighting the NSO. In the capital city, they think the Enschede orchestra's new name is very much like its own n...

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'Ajax states' in sudden war between Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and National Travel Opera

This week, the National Travel Opera begins rehearsals of Mozart's Le nozze di figaro. In the bin, the brand-new Netherlands Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. Business as usual, as both companies have been working closely together for years and are united in the National Music Quarter Enschede. Only: orchestra and opera company have not been talking to each other since last week.

Read More "'Ajax states' in sudden war between Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and National Travel Opera

Miraculous play on age-old techniques mirrors Stravinky's music in 50,000 litres of water and 50 minutes

Thai and Vietnamese puppetry. Acrobats, Chinese shadow play and Japanese costumes. A Chinese conductor for a Dutch orchestra, a Canadian directing team and, as the main work, a scant 50-minute opera by a Russian composer, based on a fairy tale by a Danish writer who took his inspiration from China. Loosely.

That, and fifty thousand litres of water, are the ingredients for The Nightingale and Other Fables at Amsterdam's Muziektheater. A performance...

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Even if they quit, Halbe Zijlstra is cracking down on culture clubs

Letters from Culture Secretary Zijlstra are dangerous, especially when they are about figures and schemes. And we haven't seen the latest one for now. So right now, it is about 'friction costs' for the cultural sector. These are the costs that subsidised institutions have to incur when their existence ends due to the subsidy freeze. Think, for example, of redundancy payments, compensation for damages, flower arrangements for funerals of suicides and the loss of v...

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Sports sponsor pays top price, culture sponsor sits front row for a pittance and expects no less

The smallest opera company in the Netherlands beats the biggest. Not in visitor numbers, not in subsidy received, but in bringing in sponsorship money. On closer inspection, however, it becomes painfully clear once again that there is no giving culture in the Netherlands and sponsorship is limited to a pittance. A rattling giving law will not change that.

A month ago, intendant Guus Mostart told us that despite rave reviews and sold-out theatres, the N...

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"Battle of the Orchestras" kicks off with name change Orchestra of the East Netherlands Symphony Orchestra

The Netherlands has a new orchestra: the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. At least, new in name. The Orkest van het Oosten does not seem to be waiting for possible forced mergers, and is already claiming its position as the national orchestra outside the Randstad by means of this striking name change that was announced today before the start of a concert with the Jussen brothers.

Read More ""Battle of the Orchestras" kicks off with name change Orchestra of the East Netherlands Symphony Orchestra

Letter Zijlstra is just a request for information. But it does include a tickable invitation to suicide

Has state secretary Halbe Zijlstra the Lower House lied or misled in June when he stated that rushing through the culture cuts was necessary to absorb friction costs? Or does it just turn out to be improper governance?

Read More "Letter Zijlstra is just a request for information. But it does include a tickable invitation to suicide

Siegfried at Reisopera: a sword is a sword, a spear a spear and a dragon an er... storage tank with claws

The dragon remains tricky. Truly terrifying you never get him, of course, but what looked like a cross between a storage tank and an underground tube was laughable even before kitchy claws emerged from the wall. No wonder young Siegfried had the forchten does not learn and stands there smiling.

Read More "Siegfried at Reisopera: a sword is a sword, a spear a spear and a dragon an er... storage tank with claws

#HF11 Thomas Adès sails his own ship and steers across familiar waters with new compositions

The ark as the earth, as a spaceship carrying us through the chaos of the universe to a safe haven. The pole star as the apparent magnetic centre of the universe around which all the stars revolve. No, this is not woolly new age chatter, these are the starting points for Tevot and Polaris, two major orchestral works by Thomas Adès, which had their Dutch premiere under the composer's own direction.

Read More "#HF11 Thomas Adès sails his own ship and steers across familiar waters with new compositions

#HF11 Playing with Nietzsche's moustache in opera fantasy by Wolfgang Rihm

An opera based on texts by Nietzsche, and then start with loud laughter and main character N trying to catch two water nymphs. Wait a minute, that's Wagner! Well, at Wagner's Rheingold involves three Rhine daughters, but the similarity is too great to be coincidental. And neither is this one, but in the first minutes of Wolfgang Rihm's Dionysos is much more going on. Here is a composer at work who not only plays with text and music, but also with centuries of cultural history and knows how to add jokes to it. It is to get intoxicated.

Read More "#HF11 Playing with Nietzsche's moustache in opera fantasy by Wolfgang Rihm

#HF11 Weather barbed, lovely and humorous notes at mini-festival Xenakis 1234

The battle between Titans and gods on Mount Olympus opens Xenakis 1234, a mini-festival in the larger Holland Festival. In four concerts, spread over two days, Iannis Xenakis takes centre stage. In addition, an extensive exhibition is dedicated to the Greek composer, who was originally a mathematician and architect.

Say Xenakis and anyone who doesn't shrug their shoulders will run away screaming, women and children first. Neighbours are also fine to freak out with his unruly...

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