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MUSIC

Old or new, classic or modern, minimal or world. Pop. Tonal and atonal.

Forgotten Dutch operas at Kröller-Müller

The Kröller-Müller Museum does not immediately associate you with classical music. Yet on Sunday afternoon, 29 May, I attended a concert at this institution located in the Veluwe forests. It was organised by the Helene Kröller-Müller Fund in association with 401 Dutch operas. This organisation aims to bring forgotten and never-performed opera' from the Netherlands and Flanders (back) into the spotlight. On this occasion, arias and duets were performed from the period when Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939) built the art collection of the museum named after her.

Helene Kröller-Müller
Helene Kröller-Müller

Dutch music of the late nineteenth, early twentieth century seems hot again.

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Figures don't lie: Dutch venues are doing badly

It must have been down to my indestructible mood, and the deep need to finally deliver some good news about the cultural sector, but I was so wrong. Tuesday I reported that the performing arts were recovering after Halbe Zijlstra's draconian cuts, but that is so not the case. As much as the sector itself would like it to do well, the figures contradict it time and again.

Surely the Association of Theatre and Concert Hall Directors has taken us all for a ride again. With a real infographic still do. But, as it is with infographics: you can put in all the bright colours and shouts, and even shout 'Bravo!' and 'Applause!'at the bottom, the numbers themselves don't lie, even if you present them slightly differently than last year.

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Theatres are doing better and better: 6 lessons from the VSCD @congresPK

On Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 May, the VSCD met, and the Congres Podiumkunsten (@congresPK) was going on at the Nijmegen Concert Hall De Vereeniging. I went to check it out and discovered some new things.

1 The eminent gentlemen are gone.

Things have changed in Dutch theatre since the beginning of this century. Somewhere around the year 2000, I was a guest at a meeting of the Association of Theatre and Concert Hall Directors, and it was a bizarre experience. I found myself among a gathering that could best be described as a gentlemen's club, where the number of upstanding municipal officials exceeded the number of artistically inspired theatre lovers.

Now, 16 years later,

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Joop Daalmeijer Erdoğan, Miranda van Kralingen Davutoğlu?

"For someone to interfere with an artistic interpretation, I find that quite hefty. Let me put it this way: you have this prime minister in Turkey... To interfere with something artistic, I find that rather hefty." This was stated by Emil Szarkowicz, musician and cultural editor from Limburg, in a broadcast by regional broadcaster L1 yesterday, Reason being the negative opinion of... 

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Culture Council fill-in exercise offers hardly any surprises

Champagne at BAK in Utrecht, deep disappointment at The New Institute in Rotterdam: the Council for Culture has spoken. Today, Thursday 19 May 2016, the first advice after the draconian art cuts by the first Rutte cabinet came out, and heads are rolling. Amsterdam loses prestigious presentation institution De Appel, in The Hague fellow institution Stroom has to redo its homework. The Orkest van het Oosten and the Gelders Orkest have to come up with merger plans within two years. In Utrecht, the city company Theater Utrecht will no longer receive funding despite artistic appreciation. Het Zuidelijk Toneel in Eindhoven Tilburg must make new plans and Opera Zuid must quickly raise its artistic quality. These are the main conclusions of the Culture Council's opinion.

As dramatic as some of this may sound, the advice is actually not, when you look over the whole battlefield. Thanks in part to

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Music life loses colourful figure in Bernard van Beurden

"Thea, I must have that concert organiser's number!", his commanding baritone sounded in my ear. Bernard van Beurden (1933-2016) invariably called from the South of France, where he lived - he had a modest pied-à-terre in Amsterdam. As a music journalist, I had interviewed him several times and seemed the right person to help him get information from his distant homeland. Subsequently, we sat for hours... 

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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.... 

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Culture Council: broadcast orchestra should broadcast more, perform less

The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor should focus more on broadcasting and less on concert practice. So says the Council for Culture in an opinion released today on the policy plan of the Netherlands Broadcasting Music Foundation (SOM), which includes the choir and orchestra.

While the Council is very appreciative of the Saturday matinee, are the two other series the Foundation is bringing

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Don Giovanni faces leaden seriousness at National Opera

For a dramma giocoso, there was precious little to laugh at during a performance of Don Giovanni by De Nationale Opera on Tuesday 10 May. This production, taken over from the Salzburg Festival, is weighed down by a leaden seriousness, exacerbated by the turbo-Mozart presented to us by conductor Marc Albrecht and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Despite his often punishing tempi, the... 

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Mayke Nas wins composition prize: 'I don't want fear, I want adventure'

Grandfather Louis Toebosch was a famous organist and composer. His daughter - her aunt - Moniek an equally famous artist and performer; mother recorder teacher, father Mozart-crazy: 'When I left home I couldn't hear a recorder or Mozart anymore!' Mayke Nas (Voorschoten, 1972) is no stranger to making music and composing. In doing so, she likes to avoid the beaten track and... 

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The five shows you must see in May

Toneelschuur, Don Carlos (stage) Nina Spijkers brings Friedrich Schiller's classic play back to its essence. No lavish scenery depicting the Spanish court, but canvases peeled off layer by layer. playlist M31 Foundation, Nederlandse Reisopera, Theater na de Dam, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (opera) Forty years after its world premiere at Theater Bellevue, Victor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis will be re... 

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Podium Witteman has lost the stage, er, way

Throughout the year, the public broadcaster spends a lot of time on sports. For World Cup, Tour or Games, cultural broadcasts are cancelled for weeks without pardon. If you can't beat them, join them, Paul Witteman must have thought, or perhaps the viewing figures were disappointing, because on 1 May he devoted an entire Podium Witteman broadcast to cycling. Don't. The reason for the cycling special is... 

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The Muse of South - What does a street name sound like?

Some time ago, I discussed with broadcaster MAX the idea of phoning random residents in music districts to ask what they thought of 'their' composer. Would they spontaneously burst into an ode to, say, Carolus Hacquart, Cornelis Schuyt or Henriëtte Bosmans? Unfortunately, this playful plan never materialised, but lo and behold: a number of musicians joined hands.... 

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With George Pieterson, music life loses another coryphée

Last Sunday, 24 April, clarinetist George Pieterson died at his home in Amsterdam, aged 74. 'George was an iconic player with a big musical heart,' says his former student Frank van den Brink. 'He invariably went full steam ahead and whichever recording you listen to, his playing is always remarkable. You didn't necessarily have to put up with his... 

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New image for the King with some help from music & Ottolenghi

Majesty, Dear Willem Alexander, Last year at the Koningsdag concert, one of my favourite musicians played: violinist and composer Oene van Geel. On that occasion, his band zapp4 played together with a musician from my old world: recorder player Walter van Hauwe. In addition, surprising programming with David Kweksilber Big Band, leading lady Claron McFadden, tap dancer Peter Kuit and more. Great musicians... 

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Princess Christina Competition 2016: varied repertoire at a high level

Even before the welcome applause has died down at the Zuiderstrand Theatre on Saturday 23 April, pianist Manuel Sanguino begins Bach's Partita BWV 826. Crystal-clear runs sound in his right hand, while his left hand shapes the contrapuntal counterpoints just as smoothly. Even the faster passages are beautifully phrased and distinguishable note by note. Sanguino is one of the... 

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Böhmermann: Turkey is the place to be

'No barbaric act can ever erase press freedom,' French President Hollande tweeted immediately after the bloody attack on the editors of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. German Chancellor Angela Merkel walked side by side with him in a mass demonstration for freedom of expression. But that was the reality of the time. Now she stands ... 

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Andalusia is Amsterdam and Amsterdam is Andalusia at Podium Mozaïek

"This was actually a mixtape," says Yassine Boussaid, Saturday 9 April 2016 after his concert, "as my cousin used to give me, for the long way back from Morocco to Amsterdam. Yassine is the business leader of the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra (AAO). Together with artistic director Mohamed Chairi and director-writer Mohamed Aadroun, he puts together concerts at breakneck speed.... 

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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... 

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Monsieur Doumani

This write-up may begin somewhat strangely, but the end is going to evoke very different images: All sorts of things are set in motion internally when I find myself in the smallest room of my house. That's because - besides nice, sweet cards from friends and family - there are clippings hanging on the door, theatre guides, newspaper sections and smart magazines lying around. So... 

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Bob Dylan reinvents the music video

The music video once attracted famous directors to music, and vice versa, music video directors later turned out to be great filmmakers. But despite youtube and vimeo, the music video has lost impact and importance in the last decade. This is not surprising, because where once MTV determined which (music) images we got to see, we now determine that ourselves. MTV now only broadcasts music on theme channels... 

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Guaranteeing: the new way of subsidising.

The Orchestra of the East is allowed half a million in red. That is the outcome of the 'Urban Commission' in Enschede. In a fortnight, the city council will formally take the decision, but with the commitment of a large majority, any debate will be wasted time then and the proposal would be better added to the list of hammer pieces immediately. That would have taken a month... 

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Violinist Vadim Repin: 'The score is our bible!'

At five, he started playing the violin, and after only six months he gave his first performance. At 17, he was the youngest participant ever to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2002, Vadim Repin, born in Novosibirsk in 1971, played at Willem-Alexander and Máxima's wedding concert, together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Three years ago, Repin started his own... 

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Maarten Ornstein Photo- ©Foppe Schut 2014

What goes around comes around: Maarten Ornstein wrote a song for us! #ackler

'Write about that!' How many times have I heard or read that as a cultural journalist. From very good and interesting people, of course. People who make beautiful things, too. But also people who assume that I, as a writer on a website, will therefore immediately hop on a train to a remote corner of the country... 

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Composer Anna Meredith: 'It was a revelation that classical music is a living art form'

On 4 March 2016, her debut CD Varmints, a mixture of new-classical, electronica and avant-pop, was released and Scottish-Canadian Anna Meredith (b. 1978) was showered with praise. 'One of the most innovative minds in modern British music,' wrote one critic. 'Vibrant and kaleidoscopic,' wrote another. 'Exceptional soundscapes of synthesisers, beats and other things' reposted a third. A fourth felt... 

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