Old or new, classic or modern, minimal or world. Pop. Tonal and atonal.
It was a chilly Thursday evening before Christmas 2023 and a grim atmosphere hung in the wedding hall of the old Utrecht city hall. Where during the day countless Utrechters were saying yes to each other, two partners were now facing each other. They no longer looked at each other, each had gathered their own supporters. Angry words rang out from one, bewildered words from the other. Members...
Industry news. The music sector needs to be safer and more inclusive. That is the industry's own conclusion after Movisie's survey of nearly 1,000 music professionals. In it, more than 50% of respondents said they had experienced cross-border behaviour during their work in the form of discrimination, aggression or sexual abuse. During Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, Taskforce launches...
Asko|Schönberg, with expressive soprano Katrien Baerts and versatile clarinettist David Kweksilber, brings music from the streets to the concert hall. On Thursday 25 January, four different pieces will be featured during Roots & Grooves. Folk music served as inspiration for John Adams' clarinet concerto. So did Leoš Janáček/Tim Mulleman's Moravian folk songs. For the spectacular Gougalōn, Unsuk Chin was inspired by the...
The sacred must of Andrea Voets: "I really am the very hardest customer of my own work" by Cultural Press Agency A good conversation with composer, harpist, electronic music maker and podcaster Andrea Voets. Read on Substack "I never thought just playing music was enough." Andrea Voets (34) is a rising star in the arts, but can't be pigeonholed into a...
The recording studio and residency site of Antwerp's Sound In Motion/SIM under construction is why the Belgian cultural sector is miles ahead of that of the Netherlands in one important respect. Magic word is: residency. Do It Yourself From Antwerp, the couple Christel and Koen, both marinated in the DIY ideology of punk, have long been bombarding city and world with concerts...
On Sunday 14 January at 3pm, the dance and music performance Tegenwind will premiere at the Chassé theatre in Breda, a family performance for everyone aged 7 and above. Tegenwind is the sequel to the successful collaboration of dance company de Stilte and Artvark saxophone quartet in the production Bosch in Bed. Anyone listening to Blowin' in the wind by Bob Dylan will hear a song...
ITA, HOLLAND FESTIVAL AND NDT PRESENT BIBERATING PROGRAMS ONLINE, IN DIGITAL THEATER International Theatre Amsterdam, Holland Festival and Nederlands Dans Theater will present groundbreaking programmes online, in the Digital Theatre, during the Christmas holidays. In order to connect makers, companies and (inter)national visitors, the initiators choose a programme during the Christmas holidays. The ideal period to be together, to feel...
It is one of my worst guilty pleasures. Egg salad from the better-filled mayonnaise manufacturer from Twente, with a close second to their tuna salad. I can't get enough of those. And now let them have both of those on the table at Het Kerstdiner in Theater Kleine Willem in Enschede. Chic is different, but in the...
I used the word 'revolutionary' when a camera crew from Theatre Rotterdam asked me what I thought of Closed Eyes. I don't know if my otherwise extraordinarily enthusiastic response will make it to the final edit, but a day later, that feeling is not gone. What Alida Dors, artistic director of Theatre Rotterdam, has shown is a revolution in the world of...
1. During 9/11, I was in Salamanca with two friends. The day Geert Wilders managed to amass 37 seats (thank you VVD and normalising media), I was in Rabat, attending the Visa for Music music conference, with which the European Jazz Network (one of the best-functioning networks within European cultural funding, I say as a new kid...
It was 2000 and Wim Kayzer, of the VPRO, brought a series of television evenings that went against everything commercial. It was called 'Of Beauty and Consolation' and featured evening-long interviews with people like Jane Goodall, J.M. Coetzee, Karel Appel and George Steiner. Intellectuals, artists, thinkers. On 23 November 2023, the day after 22/11, when the Netherlands held an open...
Enter the world of 'Dancing Strings'. Together with Marmoucha, Dancing Strings Festival brings together the world's most enchanting stringed instruments, with a focus on the ancient and masterful 'ud. The festival takes audiences on a musical journey where the 'ud shines as a solo instrument but also as an integral part of various line-ups featuring stringed instruments from different cultures. The festival's programme consists of five parts each evening. The composers will play their own works and be accompanied by the Marmoucha Orchestra. These works have been arranged by Ardashes Aghosian.
In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: policies for jazz and improvised music. From the Oude Schans to Rijswijk May 1983, Monday morning, a quarter past eight. Location: the soulless office tower in Rijswijk housing the Ministry of Welfare, Public Health and Culture. Minister Brinkman addressed the members of the Working Group on...
With Fuse's rousing final concert, November Music 2023 came to an end on Sunday 12 November. Twelve days of versatile new music featured contemporary composed works, choral music, electro-jazz, Arabic maqam, musical theatre and much more. Bosch Requiem 2023 composed by Aart Strootman, John Zorn and all the concerts by Maya Fridman were highlights. Our thanks...
LOD muziekktheater in coproduction with Asko|Schönberg23/11 Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw26/11 Breda, Chassé Theatert/m 22/2 diversie theatres in Belgium Belgian actor Josse De Pauw and composer Frederik Neyrinck are inspired by Wim Kayzer's television series Van de schoonheid en de troost. 'Tell me what makes this life worth living' is how Wim Kayzer opened the conversation with artists, scientists and philosophers in his legendary television series Van de...
At half past eleven on a Sunday morning, it might be a bit much: Maya Fridman, improvising on her cello. Watching her play, together with pianist Maarten van Veen, is an intense experience. She becomes one with her instrument, it overwhelms her, it is almost too intimate to watch. But what warmth waves through the audience....
The image should especially pierce piano lovers: a concert grand piano crashing out of the ceiling onto a stage in super slomo. The interior bulges out, keys fly around. Moments later, the ruined piano empire turns out to play a part in a real piano concerto after all. It could have been a one-off performance, were it not for the...
"Maybe the future of music is string quartets doing Skype performances for babies in neonatal wards, maybe everything is on an iPhone but edited to sound like a low-quality mp3 you downloaded from Napster in 2002, maybe it's soundscapes in sacred springs. I'm much more interested in this way of thinking." (Jennifer...
FAQ Festival of Electronic Music is part of November Music for the third time in a row. From 2 to 4 November, FAQ will again showcase a broad palette of electronic sounds with this year's focus on the adventurous Japanese music scene. November Music 2023 will take place from 1 to 12 November at various locations in 's-Hertogenbosch. Since its inception,...
November Music 2023 takes place from 1 to 12 November at various locations in 's-Hertogenbosch and opens on Wednesday 1 November 2023 with the Bosch Requiem, composed by Aart Strootman on a libretto by Jan Rot. The Bosch Requiem can be heard in 's-Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen and Rotterdam in the period around All Souls' Day. Bosch Requiem 2023 For the seventh...
World premiere by young composer Thomas van Dun commissioned by Asko|Schönberg, master pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in György Ligeti's Piano Concerto and Unsuk Chin finds her inspiration on the streets. In 2008 and 2009, Korean composer Unsuk Chin visited Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The atmosphere of the old residential areas with their narrow, winding alleys, marketplaces and food vendors reminded her...
Jameszoo wanted to disappear from his music. That failed completely, he tells himself. But what a glorious failure. He developed an instrument that is not only self-playing, but also improvises and communicates with musicians playing live. They let the non-existent soloist challenge them to unpredictable musical playing. Electroacoustic wrestling Asko|Schönberg and Slagwerk Den Haag enter into a collaboration ...
On Sunday 10 September, Podium Klassiek opened the season in a very stripped-down version. Floris Kortie was all alone. In the world of public broadcasting and classical music, where things are usually fixed three years in advance, something was up. I felt an end approaching. Podium Witteman had become a fixture here at home....
Of course, we can continue to complain about the poor treatment of our artists, we can also approach it with a positive slant. That must have been the consideration of composers' interest group Nieuw Geneco when establishing the 'Fair Practice Awards'. On Friday 8 September, they were presented at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg for the fourth time: awards for commissioners who for once...
Concerts and performances September 2023 Opening Gaudeamus Festival 2023 - 6 September This evening, Asko|Schönberg's programme is dedicated to transverse minds, composers who know how to break free from conventions and expectations. They play with our perception of time, challenge us to embrace microtonal intervals and integrate non-musical sounds into their dramaturgy. Music from...
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