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basel

Podcast! Four strings live in four helicopters, for Stockhausen's 'Aus Licht': 'We still need to do something about those carrier pigeons in terms of planning.'

by Thea Derks
8 May 201929 March 2022
3 min read
For members only, Holland Festival, MUSIC, OPERA, PODCAST, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

In 2016, the Holland Festival, De Nationale Opera, the Royal Conservatoire and the Stockhausenstiftung joined forces to stage the German avant-gardist's magnum opus at Amsterdam's Gashouder. Light far surpasses Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen in ambition and scale. Against the four full-length operas of his older colleague, Stockhausen places 'Sieben...

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Long-winded Juditha Triumphans at DNO

by Thea Derks
29 January 201930 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, OPERA, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Oratorios are notoriously undramatic, because they only tell a story for one second and do not zoom in on human emotions. Juditha Triumphans is no exception and the narrative itself has little to it. To rid her town of its assailants, Judith gets their general drunk and then cuts off his head. This could make for a compelling story, were it...

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'Without screws, the (art) world collapses. Welcome to the empire of the 'Screw King' of southern German Künzelsau

by Harri Theirlynck
16 July 201824 July 2018
7 min read
VISUAL, HERITAGE

Manufacturing screws and collecting art is on the face of it like Max Verstappen to Leonardo da Vinci. German billionaire Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Reinhold Würth, owner of Europe's largest fastener and assembly equipment company, has a total of 10 art museums in Europe and four art annexes in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Spain. No art cathedrals...

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The Basel Miracle: "YES!" the petty people said en masse by referendum in 1967 to the purchase of two expensive Picassos.

by Harri Theirlynck
2 July 201830 March 2022
8 min read
ACTUAL, VISUAL, HERITAGE, Holland Festival, SPECIALS

This is an extraordinary story about crowdfunding avant la lettre and an urban 'bourgeoisie' that for once does not vote by refendum against throwing money at modern art. In Switzerland, no less. Kunstmuseum Basel made a small, fine, penetrating exhibition about it, still on show until 18 August, 2018. Ideal for a stopover on the way to Italy. If you do have a moment...

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View on the Acropolis and Partheon, Athens (foto auteur)

Documenta 14: You have 100 days to discover Athens

by Jan-Willem van Rijnberk
13 April 201726 May 2017
10 min read
VISUAL

Every five years, the art world is turned upside down. Then it is time for the fourteenth Documenta. At that time, the German city of Kassel turns into a veritable Mecca for art connoisseurs and art lovers, snobs and connoisseurs. And, of course, tourists looking for that other Efteling. This year's Documenta has a sizeable Dutch contribution. But there is more: for the...

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Why I love that the Holland Festival is programming Stockhausen's 'Aus Licht'

by Thea Derks
30 December 20164 May 2019
5 min read
Holland Festival, OPERA, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS

Towards the end of the year, we are inundated with lists. The best CDs, the best books, the performances you shouldn't have missed, etcetera. In this sea of choices from reviewers and other opinion makers, one post stands out, from opera critic Olivier Keegel. He started a veritable petition to prevent Karlheinz Stockhausen's 'Aus Licht' from being performed in June 2019,...

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Cello Biennale shines through groaning glissandi and whispering ghost choir

by Thea Derks
26 October 201630 March 2022
6 min read
For members only, Cello Biennale, MUSIC, PODIUM ART

During the sixth edition of the Cello Biennale, the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ is a bustling place to be. Immediately upon entering on the first floor, you enter an atmospheric pop-up brasserie, with market stalls set up in every other nook and cranny. There is a selection of handmade cellos, bows, bridges, dampers and strings alongside a large selection of magazines, CDs...

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Melancholia-Bryony-Dwyer-junges-theater-basel-©-Sandra-Then

All 18 gloomy: Melancholia is concert for sour old men #HF16

by Wijbrand Schaap
15 June 201630 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, DANS, Holland Festival, MUSIC, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS, THEATER

We are all going to die! We already have that certainty in. And since the dawn of mankind, every new generation invariably knows that it is going to happen to them now. After all: their successors have never prospered anywhere like today's youth. Nice premise for a concert, thought German director Sebastian Nübling[hints]Nuling was a guest at the Holland Festival last year with an adaptation of Hebbel's play Nibelungen, read the review and a interview.[/hints], good idea to programme, thought the Holland Festival. I seriously wonder why.

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NRC in error: Daan Roosegaarde is not a thief because Ger van Elk is not unique

by Wijbrand Schaap
25 March 201630 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, VISUAL, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

This Daan Roosegaarde is said to have made a huge fool of himself again. In any case, NRC Handelsblad reported that the man, who is under fire for not naming sources, has again committed plagiarism. For his contribution to the DWDD pop-up museum, a wildly successful thing by the world's fastest culture programme, he hung a whole row of seascapes in a room,...

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Wicked souls in dark times - baroque opera in Saturday Matinee

by Ewa Maria Wagner
8 February 20168 February 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL, OPERA

Baroque specialist and conductor Andrea Marcon, together with his La Cetra Barockorchester, manages to weave a fine lace work in Vivaldi's opera seria Catone in Utica (1678 - 1741), on which, among others, German soprano Anett Fritsch, Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg and striking Italian mezzo-soprano Francesca Ascioti shine like precious jewels. The international cast of Catone in Utica...

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In 2016, we will conquer Germany, if it is up to Bart Moeyaert

by Wijbrand Schaap
19 January 201529 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, LITERARY, SPECIALS, Writers Unlimited

He had had a TED training. It couldn't be otherwise. Bart Moeyaert, poet, writer and multiple award winner, sometimes literally wriggled into numerous corners to warm up the Dutch literary guild to his plans for 2016. That year, for the first time in a long time, the Netherlands will host the Frankfurter Buchmesse again, the Art Basel of the literary world....

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Ragged ritual defies permanent display: Germaine Kruip at the Stedelijk @HollandFestival 2014

by Fransien van der Putt
11 June 201430 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, DANS, Holland Festival, SPECIALS

"You know ma'am, that big red painting? Turn right before that". A young attendant shows us the way. At first glance, it's nothing. A man in semi-uniform, black trousers, white shirt, slowly turns on his axis. Sol Lewitt's mural, number 1084 from 2003, lends him the necessary decorum. Around the corner hang Barnett Newman and Andy Warhol. Would the man care? In this 'hall of fame' of conceptual art, the man's spinning stands out a little timidly. Some visitors remain standing, leaning against white walls or sinking down on the polished wooden floor. Those who take their time watch the spinning of the man and his fellow dervishes slowly take possession of the Stedelijk.

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Simon Stone adapts Ibsen for Australians: 'And why would you even go to the theatre if you live in Sydney?'

by Wijbrand Schaap
22 May 201330 March 2022
10 min read
Holland Festival, SPECIALS

Holland Festival

Simon Stone (28) wrote a new play based on Henrik Ibsen's 1884 stage classic The Wild Duck. The Swiss-born Australian provided the Norwegian play with entirely contemporary language and dressing. The actors sit

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"The Life and Death of Marina Abramović": bumpy business with Antony as rock #HF12

by Fransien van der Putt
25 June 20128 July 2016
6 min read
Holland Festival, SPECIALS

Antony, Dafoe and Abramović together on one stage, directed by Robert Wilson - it promised to be the hit of the theatre season. But Abramović's private life does not really lend itself to a triumphant or compelling narrative.

Read More ""The Life and Death of Marina Abramović": bumpy business with Antony as rock #HF12