Auke Hulst (1975) grew up more or less unaccompanied by adults with a brother and two sisters in the hamlet of Denmark in Groningen, on top of the Slochteren gas bubble. His childhood in a Pippi Longstocking house in a forest was the model for his third novel Children of the Rugged Land (2012). And I Remember Titus Broederland is his...
What is a 'companion piece'? On Thursday 12 January, the quirky Ives Ensemble answers this question at a concert in the Thursday night series at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam. Especially for this, Richard Rijnvos composed his Riflesso sull'arco, a 'companion piece' to Swinging Music by Kazimierz Serocki. I asked Rijnvos three questions. What typifies you as a composer? Let me start with...
Each month, in the (Un)heard series, I present extraordinary sound that does not go unnoticed and unsung. In this December edition: Brume, Cinema Perdu, Emanuele de Raymondi, Mark Fell, Zeno van den Broek and James O'Callaghan. Like a vise around the neck Brume - Mother Blast (LP, Grautag) Nicolas Moulin's Grautag label guarantees dystopian soundscapes. Those landscapes the label presents...
Meg Stuart's two-hour heroic epic Until Our Hearts Stop, showing at the Rotterdam Schouwburg this week, does not engage in dramatic construction according to the rules of Aristotle's Poetics. We don't know who those people are there on stage. Nor do they seem to have been given any special assignment, although they are clearly being...
'It took me 18 years to make a new recording,' Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich (1958) says with a modest smile. 'Just as much time as it takes a baby to come of age.' It is Wednesday, November 2. A special moment, because on that day Pogorelich's CD-less new recording of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas No 22 and No 24 will go on...
'He likes a joke,' says Fedor Teunisse of Slagwerk Den Haag, calling composer Brendan Faegre (1985) onto the Bimhuis stage. The young composer explains how the percussionists and the Biennale Cello Band should perform his Magical Quest for the Enchanted Armor. 'It's a game piece,' he says enthusiastically. 'The four percussionists and four cellists...
On 19 February 2016, György Kurtág celebrated his 90th birthday. Though frail, the Hungarian grandmaster of soul-crushing notes is still working on his first and only opera, Fin du Partie (Endgame), based on Samuel Beckett's play of the same name. The prologue was already premiered at a grand birthday festival at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, where he himself once studied. On Thursday 13 October, the...
When you think of Amersfoort, do you think of classical music? Um... A new initiative should change this. At the opening of the cultural season, Amersfoort Klassiek presented itself with a fine ambition: to profile the Keistad as a city of classical music. A great initiative as far as I am concerned, because Amersfoort does indeed have a lot to offer in the field of classical music. For instance, there is Amerfortissimo, the...
In 2013, production group Diamantfabriek and ensemble Nieuw Amsterdams Peil presented the full-length performance Conversations with my Mother. Director Matthias Mooij (1976-2014) and composer Benedict Weisser (1967) asked seven male authors to write a fictional telephone conversation with their mother. At the heart of the piece is the fundamental inequality of communication between mother and son. 'I advise all mothers and...
The 70th audition of the Gaudeamus Music Week ended Sunday 11 September in TivoliVredenburg with the presentation of the Gaudeamus Award. Director Henk Heuvelmans presented the prize for composers under thirty to American Anthony Vine (1988). The prize money of five thousand euros is intended for a new composition, to be performed during a subsequent edition. The jury, consisting of...
Last year, arts festival Musica Sacra was all about 'the road', inspired by the many pilgrim routes that lead to holy places. This year, Maastricht is all about the 'sacrifice of love'. At first sight, an anachronistic theme, which seems at odds with sentiments in our current society. The aggression against asylum seekers, the ruthless pursuit of profit by...
Recently, Lidy Blijdorp (* 1986) took over the cello of well-known cellist Anner Bijlsma (* 1934). It was his wish for the instrument to be played by her from now on. Via the Netherlands Music Instruments Fund (NMF), the instrument came to her. The maker of this cello is not known. However, it is certain that it originated from...
When you go to a concert, you think about the music, the ensemble, the soloist and/or the conductor. Maybe you look up something about the composer but you never think about the programmer who made the concert possible. Astrid in 't Veld is someone who thinks about the range of concerts on offer years in advance in order to help you with...
The Kröller-Müller Museum does not immediately associate you with classical music. Yet on Sunday afternoon, 29 May, I attended a concert at this institution located in the Veluwe forests. It was organised by the Helene Kröller-Müller Fund in association with 401 Dutch operas. This organisation aims to bring forgotten and never-performed opera' from the Netherlands and Flanders (back) into the spotlight. On this occasion, arias and duets were performed from the period when Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939) built the art collection of the museum named after her.
Dutch music of the late nineteenth, early twentieth century seems hot again.
Tongue kissing, pole dancing, strap-on dildos and anal penetration I don't usually associate with the art of dance and don't expect in a city theatre, but for Florentina Holzinger and Vincent Riebeek nothing seems too crazy. "Europe's most provocative performance duo" - in the words of Rainer Hofmann, artistic director of Spring festival - allowed themselves to be cast for 'Schönheitsabend' inspired by their predecessors, who reinvented dance with taboo-breaking choreographies in the early 20th century. In three acts, Holzinger and Riebeek present themselves as continuers of that tradition, exploring the boundaries of theatre.
'She is the embodiment of the incredible lightness of existence, agile, alert and precise on the beat.' So says one critic about Korean-American conductor Han-Na Chang (Suwon, 1982), who led just about every major orchestra after her debut in 2007. In 2014, she scored highly at the renowned BBC Proms with her fresh interpretation of the Fifth Symphony....
Grandfather Louis Toebosch was a famous organist and composer. His daughter - her aunt - Moniek an equally famous artist and performer; mother recorder teacher, father Mozart-crazy: 'When I left home I couldn't hear a recorder or Mozart anymore!' Mayke Nas (Voorschoten, 1972) is no stranger to making music and composing. In doing so, she likes to avoid the beaten track and...
Some time ago, I discussed with broadcaster MAX the idea of phoning random residents in music districts to ask what they thought of 'their' composer. Would they spontaneously burst into an ode to, say, Carolus Hacquart, Cornelis Schuyt or Henriëtte Bosmans? Unfortunately, this playful plan never materialised, but lo and behold: a number of musicians joined hands....
Last Sunday, 24 April, clarinetist George Pieterson died at his home in Amsterdam, aged 74. 'George was an iconic player with a big musical heart,' says his former student Frank van den Brink. 'He invariably went full steam ahead and whichever recording you listen to, his playing is always remarkable. You didn't necessarily have to put up with his...
Even before the welcome applause has died down at the Zuiderstrand Theatre on Saturday 23 April, pianist Manuel Sanguino begins Bach's Partita BWV 826. Crystal-clear runs sound in his right hand, while his left hand shapes the contrapuntal counterpoints just as smoothly. Even the faster passages are beautifully phrased and distinguishable note by note. Sanguino is one of the...
Last year, Julia Wolfe (1958) won the Pulitzer Prize with her oratorio Anthracite Fields. In this poignant piece about the plight of miners, she draws on American folk music. She composed it for the co-founded Bang on a Can All-Stars, a New York ensemble that became known for its rousing mix of rock, mimal music and...
Grzegorz Marciniak, a music maker worth following. And I have been doing so since 2006. That's when I first saw and heard his work performed in The Hague by the then Woof collective. I made contact, it clicked. In 2007, Picca premiered. A work Marciniak wrote for yours truly (recorder solo). And also at my most recent experience, February...
Joey Roukens (Schiedam, 1982) studied composition at Rotterdam Conservatory and took private piano lessons with Ton Hartsuiker. Since graduating in 2006, he has been able to reach a large audience with his energetic, infectious music. Commissions are pouring in, from no small number of clients. He has already written two pieces for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Out of Control (2011) and Chase...
The raw in Something Raw can mean all sorts of things. The first thought might be something rough, as in the effect of sandpaper on skin or the havoc left by an elephant in the china shop. But rough is a derivative meaning. Raw first of all means unprocessed and fresh. There is a certain hope in the combination of rough and raw: artists who like...
Years ago, Nederlands Dans Theater profiled itself with the slogan "challenging dance". That applies well to Straight Around. This performance by youth company NDT2 premiered at Holland Dance Festival in The Hague on 18 February. The company does not immediately make things easy for its audience with the four danced pieces, but for those who know how to empathise, there is...
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