Old or new, classic or modern, minimal or world. Pop. Tonal and atonal.
Belgian composer Stefan Prins rattles the conventions of musical practice with his innovative approach. His brand new inhabit_inhibit is a visionary work, based on the ideas of Timothy Morton, in which man's loss of control over his environment is made audible and tangible in a penetrating way. To do so, Prins uses spatially arranged instruments, electronics and feedback loops. Follow the news,...
Sometimes I dream of a subsidy system where artists can actually carry out their wild plans all the way, to the extreme. Or, indeed, are obliged to do so. That, for example, if you make a musical, you actually have to put a live band on stage, and are not allowed to use a studio recording. And that you then have to pay money for that...
In honour of David Bowie's 75th birthday on 8 January 2022, the long-awaited album "TOY" will be released on 6×10-inch vinyl, cassettes and a 3 CD set a day before. In fact, this previously unheard album is part of the Brilliant Adventure boxset, which fans have been able to buy for 150 euros since November 2021. Is this a long-awaited sign from the afterlife, or...
Pure panic and existential angst: that's the picture you get when you approach makers in the arts personally about the effects of trickle down (the trickle down of corona funding from the government to those makers). The Creative Coalition may be making a fist for them, talking to the minister about it, the institutes debating it, but the creators are silent....
For the second time, Asko|Schönberg organises Words & Music, a festival full of cut-ups & fuck ups. A rush of sensations: fantastic, grim, absurd, disruptive and with humour. A day of cut-up, cut-up and brand-new performances in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ and Tolhuistuin. After the successful first edition in 2020, Asko|Schönberg will once again bring together makers from different disciplines in unique ways,...
November Music 2021 kicked off on Friday 5 November with a sold-out Bosch Requiem composed this time by Hawar Tawfiq. The kick-off weekend featured a variety of concerts including FAQ's electronic music nights and Dez Mona's beautiful pop songs with baroque orchestra B.O.X. November Music continues until 14 November. Some 55 more concerts are in the offing on...
The Every (The Everything) is the name of a successful and widely loved company, the world's largest combination of a tech giant and a commercial giant. Dave Eggers describes this in his latest novel "The Every", follow-up to bestseller The Circle. On sale from mid-November 2021 at Amazons and Bol.Coms, but those who wanted it earlier could already...
Friends call him brother. His children say daddy. One day he hopes to become a grandfather. Sam Bettens (49) was known worldwide as the lead singer of Belgian band K's Choice when he decided to transition. And now he walks the beach in swimming trunks: 'I never want to hide myself again.' Tomboy As a young girl, Sam Bettens was a tomboy and wore the...
A stormy journey full of virtuosity and drama marks the new work Odysseus by two Dutch artists: Calliope Tsoupaki (Composer of the Fatherland) and Awoiska van der Molen (visual artist/photographer).Odysseus confronts us with the consequences of our human actions. Odysseus - by Calliope Tsoupaki, premiere. - 10 Nov to 2 Dec What happens when we are in danger of losing control, when an action leads to irreversible...
Thinking up your own music, directing a group of musicians or playing with colourful synthesizers? There is also plenty to do for younger audiences during the November Music 2021 festival! Visit the very first edition of the KinderKunstmuziekRoute in 's-Hertogenbosch on Sunday 7 November 2021 and create your own music! The presentation of "So You Think You can Write a String Quartet?!" is on Wednesday 10 November. Or drop by for the...
The link between the Orpheus myth and Arnhem potenrammers is more obvious than you might think. At least, if your name is Peer Wittenbols and you are one of the country's best playwrights. That you can also think of accordions as part of that is, in turn, extraordinary. Still, Blood Coral, a performance by accordion duo Toeac, with a lead role for Jack Wouterse on a text that promises...
His life is a strange journey through time, a giant leap forward from one musical culture to another. His mother was a composer and singer, his father accompanied a relay of famous song singers as a pianist. And Jan-Bas Bollen (1961) took to the stage early on as a promising violin talent. In 1970, a child of nine, he played at the Oscar Back Violin Competition, and...
The Bossche sounds in November are contemporary. Since '93, the city has acted as a sounding board for today's music under festival name November Music. I talked to Morris Kliphuis (composer) and lyricist Otto Wichers (Lucky Fonz III), about their musical piece High Dive. The song cycle will premiere 11 November at the Verkadefabriek, performed by singer Pitou and ensemble stargaze....
'Every time I go to a beach, I see the sea through a filter of all the texts written about the sea.' Writer Joachim Robbrecht, at the request of Romain Bisschoff and together with writer brother Artun Alaska Arasli, created a sound poem for Ensemble Silbersee. During November Music, the work will finally premiere, after it had been a year...
Jan-Peter de Graaff (b. 1992) is and thinks big. As an islander, raised on Terschelling as a child of musicians, he also perhaps perceives things a little differently from the peripheral city. The height of the sky, the nothingness of a strip of land surrounded by the movement and power of water; they suggest infinity and the mystery of higher powers. That perspective...
Ko van den Bosch once founded the ruthless theatre company Alex d'Electrique and theatre would change permanently because of him. They made punk theatre and because there was very little video anyway, the myths about trays of shit and actors attacking each other with chainsaws are more numerous than it actually occurred. I have long thought that in a...
'They come from two worlds, but work together towards something that is one. Jolanda Spoel has done that perfectly'. Katinka Reinders, head of education at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, is enthusiastic after one of the first play-in performances of Melomaniac at Maas Theatre & Dance. Just now, a room full of somewhat timid secondary school students turned into a churning group of lovers of...
Not a standard death mass, but an ode to life. Iraqi-Dutch composer Hawar Tawfiq has been commissioned by festival November Music and Ammodo Fonds to compose a brand new Bosch Requiem in which he opts for a very personal musical approach. With his Requiem des fleurs et des nuages, Tawfiq joins the ranks of earlier Bosch Requiem composers such as Kate Moore, Calliope Tsoupaki and Seung-Won...
There are some people, who would prefer to tinker all day with soldering irons and circuit boards. I once had such an uncle who sometimes did not entirely safe things with a 220-volt electric train, so I limited myself to battery-powered Lego. That you can also do something with electronics and music was, of course, already known, but what I saw in...
November Music 2021 starts ticket sales and presents the programme. The festival cuts across musical genres with 90 concerts in 10 days with 20 commissioned works and 25 premieres. November Music will take place from 5 to 14 November 2021 at various venues in 's-Hertogenbosch, including the Bosch Requiem 2021 composed by Hawar Tawfiq, festival composers Rebecca Saunders and Kaija Saariaho, Brad...
Featuring contemporary composers Kaija Saariaho and Rebecca Saunders, jazz pianists Brad Mehldau and Vijay Iyer, the groups Musikfabrik, The Gurdjeff Ensemble and Ensemble Modern and guitarist Julian Lage, festival November Music rolls out the red carpet for a wide variety of top international performers. There is also another Bosch Requiem, this time composed by Hawar Tawfiq and performed by philharmonie zuidnederland....
There is a direct, inverse, link between musical talent and acting ability. The techniques needed to play a musical instrument are completely different from the registers you need - physically and mentally - for acting. So the better you master your instrument, the worse the acting. The musicians of Klangforum Wien master their instrument at the very, very...
Someone cried the other day that bands were dead. That in a world of digital convenience, loop apps and samples, there was no place left for boys and girls with a guitar, a rickety drum kit and possibly a piano. Last night, while real men were watching football, I sat in Amsterdam's BIM house watching a band. It made me overjoyed. Kukangendai, on...
From 5 May, the XL vaccination venue at the Jaarbeurs Utrecht will be brightened up several times a week by performances by Utrecht music ensembles. Utrecht has a very diverse musical life that is eager to serve the city. The Netherlands Bach Society kicks off on Wednesday 5 May. Utrechters receiving vaccinations must wait 15 minutes after the jab. GGD region of Utrecht...
Dear outgoing Prime Minister Rutte, dear Mark, This is the first time I have turned to you, the first time at all for me to write such a letter. I have to get something off my chest, because I can no longer follow or understand it all. Before I point out what is bothering me, I will write to myself...
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