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Indien je een mens bent, laat dit veld leeg:.

Wilminktheatre

Happy faces, a reunion with old acquaintances, water, cake and a magical moment: Press presentation Of Cotton and Water

by one of our members
1 August 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, PRESS, PODIUM ART

Happy faces, a reunion with old friends, water, cake and a magical moment that closed the day with a golden edge. On Wednesday, the Stadslab on the Indiëterrein in Almelo was the stage for the press presentation of the theatre performance Van Katoen en Water. The headline is off. Wednesday saw the kick-off of a unique city musical that will bring Almelo and the surrounding area...

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Theatre directors should reach out to themselves

by Willem Jaap Zwart
19 May 202219 May 2022
ACTUAL, Featured, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The Volkskrant on 18 May this year carried a scoop about strikes and drop-outs among technical staff at the country's largest company: ITA. In Trouw on the same day, the united theatre directors (VSCD) sounded the alarm about the lack of technicians. It is even so bad "that performances have to be cancelled". Two reasons in particular are cited: technicians have...

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Despite closed doors, Wilminktheatre produced more than ever

by Bran Remie
11 April 202211 April 2022
12 min read
ACTUAL, Featured, PODIUM ART

Now that the cultural sector can slowly but surely put the corona crisis and lockdowns behind it, it is time to look back. How have they done, the theatres, the clubs? Earlier, this site discussed the book TivoliVredenburg wrote about its first year (Off/On). Now it's time to look at how a theatre in 'the region' managed the...

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Open call Theatre On Tour #5: Call for location theatre makers: Become part of our festival!

by one of our members
3 June 202129 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, PRESS, PODIUM ART, THEATER

For the fifth edition of Theatre on Tour, Concordia and Wilminktheatre and Muziekcentrum Enschede are looking for location theatre makers. In the festival programme, we have reserved two special locations: the Redemptorist Park, on the border between the Netherlands and Germany, and the quay of the Enschede Rowing Association Thyro. On 18 and 19 September, Concordia and Wilminktheatre and Muziekcentrum Enschede will organise for the fifth...

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Speed and humour in Reisopera's Don Giovanni

by Thea Derks
5 March 201729 March 2022
5 min read
For members only, OPERA, PODIUM ART

When the Commendatore suddenly rises from his bier in the mortuary, Leporello recoils violently. He smacks painfully against the back wall, as if struck by a gust of hurricane-force wind. This cartoonish image is just one of many hilarious moments in Don Giovanni by the Nederlandse Reisopera. This production was performed after its premiere Saturday 4 March in the...

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Laurence Dale's Ariadne auf Naxos: an opera full of unusual couples

by Henri Drost
9 September 2016September 7, 2017
6 min read
OPERA, PODIUM ART

The main auditorium of Enschede's Wilminktheatre is empty, as is the orchestra pit. On the immense stage the set for the prologue of Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Theatre technicians discuss lighting and supertitling cues, everyone looks relaxed. Including director Laurence Dale. It is four o'clock Friday afternoon, two weeks before the premiere on 10 September. Earlier that Friday, the prologue - which...

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Guaranteeing: the new way of subsidising.

by Henri Drost
4 April 20165 April 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC

The Orchestra of the East is allowed half a million in red. That is the outcome of the 'Urban Commission' in Enschede. In a fortnight, the city council will formally take the decision, but with the commitment of a large majority, any debate will be wasted time then and the proposal would be better added to the list of hammer pieces immediately. That would have been a month...

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Orchestra of the East reinstated: HET Symphony Orchestra has 'new' name

by Henri Drost
30 November 201518 March 2016
8 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC

From Dutch Symphony Orchestra with international ambitions back to provincial orchestra with as yet nothing at all. Now, except for the ironclad original name. It could be a commercial for Telfort. In between are many lost lawsuits, the grotesque protest name *****Symphony Orchestra and the equally garish HET Symphony Orchestra. It is the ultimate capitulation of the once by just about everything and everyone...

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Good news from Enschede: magical Orphée et Eurydice by Reisopera

by Thea Derks
2 May 20155 May 2015
4 min read
OPERA

After all the misery surrounding HET Symfonieorkest, the premiere of Orphée et Eurydice last night (1 May) at the Wilminktheatre was a breath of fresh air. Defying all worries, the Nederlandse Reisopera realised a shimmering performance, which was rightly rewarded with a minute-long ovation. With magical colour fields, slow-motion movements and mysterious shadow play, director Floris Visser brought the timeless love drama to life. A must-see for...

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Reisopera's Pearl Fishermen: sober but effective

by Thea Derks
25 February 201529 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, OPERA

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...

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Municipal politics remain powerless over cultural policy content, this time in Enschede

by Henri Drost
30 January 2015
5 min read
ACTUAL

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...

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Bicycle shed gives way to redundant office of The Symphony Orchestra

by Henri Drost
6 January 201511 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL

650,000 euros. The municipality of Enschede is prepared to lend that amount to HET Symfonieorkest. Not for a special cultural project in the city, no, for a renovation. Not surprising, as municipalities, after all, prefer to invest in bricks and mortar rather than culture. But in this case, we are talking about very special bricks. According to director Harm Mannak, the barely used bicycle shed needs to be converted into a...

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The five theatrical performances you want to see in January 2015, and you already have to head back to the province

by Henri Drost
3 January 201529 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, OPERA, THEATER

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...

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Should Halbe Zijlstra apologise only to Overijssel?

by Henri Drost
17 December 201411 July 2016
5 min read
ACTUAL

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...

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Maas Theatre and Dance's Greeks: compelling and bewildering for young and old alike

by Maarten Baanders
3 November 201414 September 2018
5 min read
ACTUAL, DANS, PODIUM ART, THEATER

First story. A naked king crawls at the feet of a woman. She is much taller than him, a goddess. High above him, she holds a bunch of grapes in her hand. Hungry he is! He wants those grapes, all of them. His body is vulnerable. It seems to shiver in the open air. But when it comes to the coveted food, he fetches...

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Symphony orchestra seeks name. All suggestions are welcome.

by Henri Drost
28 August 201411 July 2016
2 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC

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.

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From packaging for fish to opera: JacobTV's The News

by Thea Derks
20 May 201430 March 2022
3 min read
For members only, MUSIC, OPERA

The News: today it's hot, tomorrow the fish will be wrapped in it. In his video opera The News, Jacob ter Veldhuis/JacobTV gives it a second life by placing it in a new context. 'Nowadays, news is infotainment, dipped in sentiment.' Next Friday, the Nederlandse Reisopera will premiere it at the Wilminkteather in Enschede. Although premiere? This is the fifth version of the 'reality opera', which was first performed in 2011 and then in various guises Amer...

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Timeless staging of St John Passion grips at throat

by Henri Drost
23 March 201411 July 2016
3 min read
OPERA

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.

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Figaro and The Fonz on a scooter in entertaining choreography for set pieces

by Henri Drost
23 November 201330 March 2022
3 min read
For members only, OPERA

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...

Hold on. Three Bertas?

Yep, director Laurence Dale dares to make Rossini '...

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Figaro! Figaro! Figaro! Reisopera on tour with Rossini's masterpiece on order

by Henri Drost
21 November 201329 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, OPERA

'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.

Along with Bellini and Donizitti, Rossini is the master of bel canto opera, and these three composers wrote in more or less the...

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Welcome to the Culture Press archive! As a member, you have access to all, over 4,000 posts we have made since our inception in 2009!

(Recent posts (under three months old) are available for all to read, thanks to our members!)

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From Dutch to National and vice versa. DNO and NRO give lesson on name change and collaboration

by Henri Drost
18 October 201330 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, OPERA

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.

A logical name change given the administrative merger of the Music Theatre, The Na...

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Welcome to the Culture Press archive! As a member, you have access to all, over 4,000 posts we have made since our inception in 2009!

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Tristan und Isolde at Reisopera, something special happens here

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

A Brünhilde who does not burst into flames but endures the Götterdämmerung with a baby in her arms, a Senta who does not jump off a cliff but is shot by Erik together with the Holländer. No one really looks surprised anymore. And Isoldes who do not die in the Liebestod are no exception, but Tristan who rises from the dead, as it were, by Isolde's notes reaching into heaven, stands diagonally behind her and sings along soundlessly?

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Tristan und Isolde is the ultimate declaration of love

by Henri Drost
18 September 201311 July 2016
6 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC, OPERA

"That sounds different. A bit sad."

I just played F, B, D♯ and G♯. Better known as the Tristan chord. But on guitar. My audience consists of 15 toddlers.

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Reisopera 2.0 presents itself and blows dust off gala

by Henri Drost
2 June 201330 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC, OPERA

With a real gala, the Reisopera 2.0 presents itself. And immediately strips the gala of its stuffy image. With thanks to the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.

Because opera gala? Well, we hoist ourselves into our tux, exchange pleasantries, mean or otherwise, in the lobby with the other invited guests, and are presented with an hour and a half of excerpts from operas, sung by soloists in the neatest attire.

This is how it goes at most major opera houses. Milan, New York, Berlin - the gala with which the ...

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Welcome to the Culture Press archive! As a member, you have access to all, over 4,000 posts we have made since our inception in 2009!

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Ed Spanjaard unleashes primal forces in Götterdämmerung Reisopera

by Henri Drost
3 October 20128 July 2016
6 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC, OPERA

The final applause after the premiere of Götterdämmerung stormy, is an understatement. It seemed as if the completely sold-out auditorium wanted to surpass the primal forces extracted from the Gelders Orkest by Ed Spanjaard. History was made here: on stage, by the soloists and choir, in the orchestra pit and behind the scenes, for six hours and 20 minutes.

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