PODIUM ART
Alles waarvoor mensen een podium betreden.
Franui zorgt voor de leukste Mahler-avond in jaren bij @HollandFestival
Wat te verwachten van een ‘musicabanda’ uit Oost-Tirool? Gemütliche volksmuziek? Gejodel? Dansmuziek voor bruiloften en partijen? Een avondje in een biercafé? Hoe dan ook: zeker geen Mahler. Maar waarom eigenlijk niet dacht het uit het dorpje Innervillgraten afkomstige Franui. Resultaat: een enerverende voorstelling rondom de orkestliederen. Zo hoorden we Mahler nog nooit.
Shen Wei pulls the Dutch National Ballet out of comfort zone at @HollandFestival
Marie on a string: Anja Röttgerkamp stars as an unknown soldier in Gisèle Vienne's The Pyre @HollandFestival
'The Pyre', the latest show from internationally rising star Gisèle Vienne, initially seems less disturbing than her previous work. Pieces like 'Jerk' (2008), based on the true story of a young serial killer, and 'This is how you will disappear' (2010), starring a dark forest, were only seen in a few places in the Netherlands. Hopefully, this performance at the Holland Festival will change that. Gisèle Vienne once studied harp, then philosophy and eventually trained as a puppeteer. But Vienne sees herself primarily as a visual artist working with time, on a stage, where different rhythms, motifs and figures come together.
'El Djoudour' is interesting as a cultural-political project, but does not convince artistically @Holland Festival
Men and women together on the dance floor, it is still forbidden in large parts of the Muslim world. Two years ago, the dance performance 'Nya' was at the Holland Festival, a piece written on the skin of nine Algerian dancers, mostly B-Boyz from the streets, but also the son of a ballet teacher from Algiers participated. This year, French choreographer Abou Lagraa, his wife Nawal Ait Benalla and much of the Algerian cast returned to the Holland Festival with a piece in which women also dance.
Desdemona in black and white
Is the kingdom of the dead in the opera Sunken Garden by Michel van der Aa a 3D garden full of brilliant colour, director Peter Sellars chooses in Desdemona by Toni Morrison and Rokia Traoré for sober black and white. On the stage of a sold-out Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ are glass bottles and jars, sometimes lit from below, sometimes from above, with hanging light bulbs like flickering candles. On the left are a number of ngonis (Malian lute) and two koras (Malian harp lute), played by black musicians.
John Adams' other Gospel of Mary @HollandFestival: masterpiece just too long
Mary is arrested at a demonstration and thrown into a cell next to a heroin addict, while her sister Martha has just started a shelter for the homeless. And Lazarus, yes, Jesus brings him back to life here too, with downright breathtaking sounds. And we are not even halfway through.
Crushingly good: Nine Rivers by composer James Dillon, with conductor and percussionist Steven Schick @HollandFestival
From the mild, everyday cacophony around the Muziekgebouw in the afternoon, on the terrace by the IJ, you'll get into the silence of the concert hall in a few steps. For three and a half hours (with over two hours of breaks in between), Asko|Schönberg, Slagwerk Den Haag and Capella Amsterdam will play and sing your ears off. Steven Schick (a.o. once Bang on a Can), not only conducts, but also takes charge of the middle part of the concert, at the Bimhuis, as a percussionist. Under his inspired direction, 'Nine Rivers' navigates between spectacle and purism: a battle between complex form and the simplicity of raw sound matter.
Meistersinger @HollandFestival convinces musically only
Cowardly knight defeats untalented rule fetishist with help from wise cobbler and wins singing contest and the hand of coquettish goldsmith's daughter. Or: boy meets girl on the streets of Nuremberg and decides to enter the local version of Nuremberg's got talent. The judges send him away, but he gets the audience vote. Wagner wouldn't be Wagner, however, if he didn't take about five hours for this story.
BN'ers at Scapino Ballet's captivating lucky draw TWOOLS
Two voices on Sunken Garden @HollandFestival part 2. Thea Derks: 'Guilt & penance before, after, with and in death'
Amsterdam, 5-6-2013 - It is difficult to go uninhibited to a production that has already caused so much controversy as Sunken Garden by Michel van der Aa. This "first 3D opera" was slammed as "soporific" after its premiere at London's Barbican Theatre last April, but also hailed as "the future of opera".
Two voices on Sunken Garden @HollandFestival, part 1. Henri Drost: "much more than 3D film opera"
Forget all the fuss about the first-ever 3D film opera, forget all the fuss in British newspapers. Michel van der Aa himself sighed in interview that, on reflection, he would have loved to have made the second 3D film opera. And perhaps he had
What else are we looking forward to at @hollandfestival?
This month is all about the Holland Festival. Culture Press reports almost daily. What are we most looking forward to?
L.A. Dance project at @hollandfestival: falling in love with dance, if only for an evening
Benjamin Millepied is a glamour boy who conquers everything in his path: from actress Natalie Portman to the Paris Opera ballet. In reality, after the premiere in Amsterdam, the Frenchman looks like a
Reisopera 2.0 presents itself and blows dust off gala
With a real gala, the Reisopera 2.0 presents itself. And immediately strips the gala of its stuffy image. With thanks to the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.
Blood, sweat and candle wax in Fabre's Wagner vision at @hollandfestival
Keren Levi in Theater Kikker met unieke documentaire en slimme voorstelling.
Messcherp, komisch en kwetsbaar: Kris Verdonck en A Two Dogs Company doen Daniil Charms op Spring Utrecht
Chetouane's Sacre du Printemps: could we possibly do without that damn sacrifice?
Victor, prachtig duet over hedendaags mannengevaar
Een man en een jongetje samen op het toneel zetten – het bovenlijf ontbloot; in de huidige tijd betekent dat om moeilijkheden vragen. Onze door pedofilie-schandalen verzadigde blik laat nog maar weinig heel van de intimiteit tussen wat ook vader en zoon, broers of vrienden zouden kunnen zijn. Maar ‘Victor’ van choreograaf Jan Martens en regisseur Peter Seynaeve is geen brave, politiek correcte herstel-operatie. In hun zoektocht naar een liefdevolle blik op de relatie tussen man en kind, zoeken zij ook consequent de grenzen van het toelaatbare op.
The French are coming, but are these choreographers that good?
Wagner in Düsseldorf: operarel of publiciteitsstunt?
Wanneer zowel nu.nl, het BBC-nieuws en vrijwel elke Duitse krant gelijktijdig aandacht aan een opera besteden moet er wel iets aan de hand zijn. En dat is ook zo: nazi’s! Wagner! Woedende toeschouwers! Meer dan dat: artsen moesten erbij geroepen!
NDT opens door to future without Kylián with 'School of Thought'
On the premiere day, an official announcement went out that choreographer and former artistic director Jirí Kylián is washing his hands of NDT after 36 years of involvement. In addition, from September 2014 to 2017, no work by
VPRO honours Reinbert de Leeuw
On 8 September next, pianist, composer and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw hopes to turn 75 and this will be celebrated with a range of events. These include a three-day festival dedicated to him in The Hague and Amsterdam at the end of September, and next season he will be
Will broadcast library collection be saved?
Hilversum, 1-5-2013 – Op de dag van de Arbeid besteedde het VARA programma De Gids op Radio 1 aandacht aan de nakende opheffing van de library van de omroep, waardoor zo’n tien hooggespecialiseerde en toegewijde medewerkers hun baan verliezen. Hoewel dit immense en unieke archief, dat zo’n vijf kilometer aan partituren, partijen en boeken herbergt, voor een half miljoen euro overeind kan worden gehouden, wordt het toch per 1 augustus opgedoekt.