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rotterdam philharmonic orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin turns Rotterdam Doelen into a swirling sea of sound

by Henri Drost
15 September 201311 July 2016
4 min read
MUSIC, OPERA

In a letter to Franz Liszt in 1852, Wagner stressed that in his Der fliegende Holländer should be shown as realistically as possible, full of violent waves. One hundred and sixty years later, Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes that advice very much to heart in port city Rotterdam. Nothing about this Holländer ripples, from the first notes it storms, culminating in a third act at hurricane force, with a leading role for the Netherlands Opera choir.

Read More "Yannick Nézet-Séguin turns Rotterdam Doelen into a swirling sea of sound

Vredenburg Friday in 'Red Box' for one more season

by Thea Derks
19 March 201330 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC

When Muziekcentrum Vredenburg closed its doors in 2007 for an ambitious renovation, symphonic concerts were moved from the centre of Utrecht to the emergency location Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn on the A2 motorway. The broadcasting series 'Vredenburg Friday'

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Prokofiev fairytale opera on repeat

by Thea Derks
20 February 201330 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, OPERA, PODIUM ART

In 2005, director Laurent Pelly and conductor Stéphane Denève enchanted Dutch audiences with their vision of L'amour des trois oranges By Sergei Prokofiev.

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Gergiev Festival full of Sunday afternoon music

by one of our members
16 September 201229 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

What could be the matter with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival - the official name to emphasise its international appeal anyway? As soon as you enter concert hall de Doelen, you immediately get the feeling that you have arrived at an ordinary, weekday concert, even though Valeri Gergiev is on the posters. No decoration of the large rooms...

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Sculpted Ovation for 'ingenious' conductor Iván Fischer

by one of our members
17 October 201129 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

"Programmatic ingenuity goes hand in hand with Fischer's ebullient and finely crafted performances". So when someone says that about you, you have earned a prize. So that is what the jury of formerly the Classical Music Prize thought of Iván Fischer, the Hungarian-born conductor who was therefore awarded the 'Ovation' on Monday 17 October 2011. And so then the 'Ovation'...

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Superbly performed opera by Rimsky Korsakoff provisional highlight of changeable opening weekend Gergiev Festival

by one of our members
13 September 201130 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

"My commitment to the city (Rotterdam) and the orchestra knows no end," Valeri Gergyev spoke on the occasion of the Gergyev Festival taking place in Rotterdam this week. This is good news, as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the former principal conductor still get along well. And to be backed by this global top-five conductor is...

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It's final: the format for arts subsidies until 2016 is with the chamber

by one of our members
25 August 201130 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

We have another letter from the secretary of state for culture. Halbe Zijlstra has sent it to parliament, to make it official that from 2013 a very bleak wind is going to blow in arts land. That makes cuts of 200 million final, still excluding the probably 150 million in so-called friction costs that the ministry also has to get from somewhere (u...

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Gergiev comes to Rotterdam with a top orchestra and top repertoire, but audiences are used to that from him

by one of our members
14 May 20118 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL

Russian conductor Valeri Gergjev was back in Rotterdam for a while, for one concert. He conducted his own orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), in de Doelen. The famous orchestra played repertoire that we in our country know inside out: Gustav Mahler's 1st symphony and Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st piano concerto. A now historic combination: because the Netherlands has become fused...

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Rutteleaks 4 on orchestras: 'Mergers Brabants Orkest and Limburg Symphony Orchestra, Gelders Orkest and Orkest v.h. Oosten, Residentie Orkest and RphO'

by one of our members
7 March 20118 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL

Of course we are being horribly abused. By the coughing chain-smoker with his trench coat in that Hague car park. Is there a bigger plan behind it. Which again we know nothing about, but which will become clear on 23 May. So be it. Until then, we can do nothing but slavishly write down what the coughing oracle coughs at us. Well: We already knew that...

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Superior played-in recordings are no guarantee of delivering a reference CD

by one of our members
24 February 201130 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra currently has an unprecedented luxury: it is releasing CDs on two labels at the same time. How is that possible? The orchestra signed under its own name with BIS Records, the label with which the eccentric owner Von Bahr releases one extraordinary recording after another, while chief conductor Yannick Néze-Séguin is old-fashionedly under contract as maestro with EMI....

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Yannick spurs his orchestra to a memorable and historic performance of Prokofiev's fifth symphony

by one of our members
12 February 201129 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is rated differently by conductors. Either you can get along with it and then it's a party, or it never becomes anything and then it stays at the occasional conducting session. Moreover, the musicians' enormous responsiveness is feared.

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Liszt's music is too important to ignore

by one of our members
30 January 201129 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

Fransz Litszt, born in 1811, explored every nook and cranny of the piano in his work, trying to incorporate every conceivable technique. As this contemporary of Carl Czerny, Niccolo Paganini and Richard Wagner was born 200 years ago this year, so there is a Liszt year. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra bit the bullet of that on Friday 28 January,...

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Conductor Ono does not stand with his boots in the blubber and therefore does not go home with a passing grade

by one of our members
14 November 20108 July 2016
5 min read
ACTUAL

Rotterdam - That every disadvantage 'hep' its advantage is often apparent with symphony orchestras. A principal conductor, for instance, is usually in charge of his own orchestra for no more than about 12 weeks a year. He divides the rest of his time among the other orchestras he is also already chief of. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, for instance, is now not only principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic...

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Russian soul dissected: religion and vodka create moral dilemmas

by one of our members
6 September 20108 July 2016
4 min read
ACTUAL

Rodion Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya - Sl-Ziga photo — photo Sl-Ziga

By Willem Jan Keizer

Rotterdam - Thanks to conductor Valeri Gergyev, we get more insight into the huge reservoir of Russian composers. Rodion Shchedrin for example. Last year a piano concerto of his was performed, Sunday night in de Doelen it was his opera for the concert stage 'The Enchanted Wanderer', after the book 'The Enchanted Wanderer' by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is dedicated to conductor Lorin Maazel, who also conducted the premiere in New York in 2002.

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RPhO's gift to the resurrected city falls short at opening Gergiev festival

by one of our members
5 September 201029 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only

By Willem Jan Keizer

Rotterdam - The fifteenth edition of the Gergjev Festival officially kicked off Friday evening in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen in concert hall de Doelen with a concert by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valeri Gergjev. Although the festival takes place at some 20 locations in the city - not only in de Doelen but also in the Laurenskerk, the conservatory, museum Boijmans van Beuningen and numerous other unexpected locations - the festival is virtually invisible in the city.

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