Tonight, the Nederlandse Reisopera premieres a new staging of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, opera of all operas. With this masterpiece, the German composer put an end to Baroque malpractice in 1762. Not only were the libretti impossible to make sense of because of the endless series of subplots, but also the case was duly...
Everything comes together in Enschede. Revenue models that appear to be based on air, but are defended to the hilt by administrators. Jubilant reports on rising museum visits, but smaller museums are going under. Aldermen acting out of cultural interests, but then playing residents against each other to make draconian decisions. All this to disguise the ruins of Rutte I. A quick recap:...
There is too little money for two travelling opera companies. Quality is at risk, something must be done. But the Culture Council does not offer a solution.
82% cut in Overijssel's culture budget No, the VVD did not become the largest party in Overijssel in the last provincial elections, the PvdA attracted 1.6% more voters, but if there is a province where Halbe Zijlstra's nationally initiated policy had an effect, it was that province. Residents soon noticed this, but research by consultancy firm
Even before the Noord Nederlands Orkest's final chord has fully sounded out, the audience in a well-filled Theater Carré stands up as one to cheer on the cast of Bizet's Parelvissers. We are writing 24 February 2015 and this is one of the last performances of this austere but effective production by the Nationale Reisopera. Tonight, this...
Municipal cultural politics are often about 'bricks and mortar'. People put up a cultural building and then pray/hope that great things will happen there, which the city council in turn has no money for/power over. Take Enschede. In a council meeting in which it was decided to reinvest in cultural bricks by means of a €475,000 loan, there was actually some unrest. No, not about those bricks, but about...
After the annual lists, the recommendations for the new year. All dailies participate in it. Problem: much is not yet known. Festivals and companies present their programmes sometime in February, March. So we cannot yet give the tips for the whole of 2015. But we do have the tips for the coming month, in chronological order, because ranking performances we still have to...
It's raining annual lists and we're merrily joining in. As subjective as anyone, after all, no one sees everything, and opinions on taste can always differ. Of course, also in this list many performances in or from the Randstad, but half of them were not yet shown there. And all genres mixed together. As long as it is theatre. With the only limitation: no repeats, apologies Ring and Lohengrin (DNO), St John Passion (NRO). And no dance, because for that our partner dance audience.
Ten per cent fewer performances and ten per cent fewer visitors in Overijssel headlines RTV Oost. Bam! That chops it. Into the bin, that jubilant press release by Jet Bussemaker. And if there is one province that does not need to apologise to Halbe Zijlstra, it is Overijssel. Well, we reported earlier that apologies are not necessary anyway, but as a province...
For fine art, you go to the museum, especially in Amsterdam and especially now that all the museums have reopened. But there is also another option: the opera. There you see visual art that doesn't fit in any museum, not even in the largest room of the Rijksmuseum. Take the Greek sculptor Jannis Kounellis. From today, his work is a...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Now on the role of cities. One of the reactions on our site is about the role of the randstad in cultural policy. Melle Daamen puts the primacy in the randstad, and goes further than the council in this.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'The council has no position yet.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'But there is something in the Culture Outlook. Cities form...
Hooray! We have a new name. Nederlands Symfonieorkest was not allowed, *****Orkest everyone thought was a joke and reverting to the perfect name Orkest van het Oosten is not possible, because loss of face. What then?
On the phone, it takes some getting used to. 'Good morning, Holland Symfonia speaking,' you hear as you listen to the orchestra in the Amsterdam Q-factory studios calls. But that's not the orchestra's name at all. In fact, Holland Symfonia has a new name: The Ballet Orchestra.
Suddenly they are gone: the Dutch Symphony Orchestra's twitter account and facebook page. Searching for the new ***** name also yields nothing. Must have something to do with all sorts of lawsuits. But if you type in nederlandssymfonieorkest.nl, you happily end up at symfonieorkest.nl. Incidentally, if you type in orkestvanhetoosten.nl, that's also where you end up.
The 300-strong audience stood up as one after Leonard Bernstein's infectious performance of Candide at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam last night. The performance of this 'pocket version' of Bernstein's cheerful musical/opera about the incorrigible optimist Candide, produced by the Nationale Reisopera, took place indoors, in the hotel's ballroom, due to the weather conditions. After all, the Grachtenfestival has to be...
Win tickets for The NEWS at Paradiso
Big new, small news. News is everywhere, there is no escape. On the street, in one's own living room. What starts at the breakfast table can become world news. So: what is your news today? Let us know, share this page and take a picture, post it on facebook and twitter. Add #thenewsnl and win two tickets to the reality opera that will permanently change your view of the news.
Jubilant reviews. With the 'reality opera' The News, the Nederlandse Reisopera has a hit on its hands. However, the familiar theatre setting is being abandoned for pop temple Paradiso. Whether you like opera or not: five reasons to go.
The news: today it is hot, tomorrow the fish will be wrapped in it. In his video opera The News gives Jacob ter Veldhuis/JacobTV it a second life by putting it in a new context. 'These days, news is infotainment, dipped in sentiment.' Next Friday, the Dutch Travel Opera the premiere at the Wilminkteather in Enschede.
The main character of Bach's St John Passion? Jesus, of course. Wrong. It is the narrator, the evangelist, especially in Dale Duesing's wonderful staging, especially when interpreted by Robert Burt. Where in ordinary performances of the Johannes the evangelist's recitatives mainly interrupt the arias and choral passages, here they form the dramatic core. We truly see John's passion.
Seizure of the instruments of the former Netherlands Symphony Orchestra is imminent. The orchestra, which, since a lost legal battle with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra is no longer allowed to use the word 'Dutch', so is not allowed to sell instruments or take them abroad. Pending a countermove from the former Orchestra of the East, they changed the name there to ***** Symphony Orchestra.
Five-star Symphony Orchestra. This is how the Dutch Symphony Orchestra will be called next season. The former Orkest van het Oosten tried to become 'Dutch' but faced a lawsuit from the Philharmonic Orchestra, which was already 'Dutch'. 'Politics should get involved in the legal process. Because it can't go on like this. This is costing tons of money.' Says Harm Mannak.
No, the company is not afraid of competition. Nor of cooperation, as evidenced by the jubilantly received Fairy queen with Veenfabriek and Combattimento, the orchestra led until recently by Jan Willem de Vriend.
It is the turnout of the evening: riding around on a scooter, barber Figaro gets involved in a crazy adventure in which Count Almaviva wants to snatch the beautiful Rosina from the hands of her guardian Doctor Bartolo. Three Bertas, meanwhile, literally tear Basilio's clothes off in an ingenious dance in front of three sets in which the action moves at lightning speed from inside to outside and...
'Give me a shopping list and I will set it to music,' the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini is said to have said. Perhaps apocryphal, but fitting for the man who composed faster than musicians could rehearse his scores. Where Wagner needed a lifetime for 14 operas, Rossini wrote triple that. In barely fifteen years.
A joint press conference by two companies. In the post-Zijlstra era, that often does not bode well. A merger then seems obvious, especially when it involves the two largest opera companies in our country: De Nederlandse Opera and the Nationale Reisopera. Only now we have to turn that around: the Netherlands Opera will become the National Opera. And the building will be called National Opera and Ballet.
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