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...
Toneelschuur, Don Carlos (stage) Nina Spijkers brings Friedrich Schiller's classic play back to its essence. No lavish scenery depicting the Spanish court, but canvases peeled off layer by layer. playlist M31 Foundation, Nederlandse Reisopera, Theater na de Dam, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (opera) Forty years after its world premiere at Theater Bellevue, Victor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis will be re...
Throughout the year, the public broadcaster spends a lot of time on sports. For World Cup, Tour or Games, cultural broadcasts are cancelled for weeks without pardon. If you can't beat them, join them, Paul Witteman must have thought, or perhaps the viewing figures were disappointing, because on 1 May he devoted an entire Podium Witteman broadcast to cycling. Don't. The reason for the cycling special is...
'Ultimately, of course, it ends up on my plate,' sighed Jet Bussemaker, minister of culture in cabinet Rutte II, the other day. She was speaking at the presentation of a research report into the functioning of supervisors in the cultural sector, in Amstelveen at the end of April. Because, she summed up: if supervision fails, there is no one but the minister to repair the damage.
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....
Imagine has been transforming for several years. When this festival was still going through the world under the name Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, its main focus was on genre cinema. The Fantatstic genre is an insidious term used as a catch-all for science fiction, fantasy and horror. In these postmodern times, fantatstic is harder to delineate. The festival therefore changed its name back in 2009,...
She came, saw and conquered. Until recently, Nell Zink was almost the embodiment of the cliché image of the poor writer, alone in an attic room. But when American writer Jonathan Frantzen touted her work, she grew into literary hype in no time. Her publisher gave her a six-figure advance. From nobody to 'Her Nellness' -...
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...
Although Panorama Mesdag always focuses on one painting, it is not a static museum. Changing exhibitions sometimes highlight Mesdag and his time, sometimes more modern artistic expressions. This time, the museum has approached artists to develop new visions on the concept of the panorama. A laudable decision. Whether the new panoramas are all equally convincing is a second. The main work in the exhibition is...
How do you get children moving? How do you stimulate their creativity? How do children learn to dance if they have little experience with dance, or other expressive artistic expressions? ICKamsterdam is developing a toolkit for dance teachers in primary education: Sensorium. By stimulating the various senses - eyes, ears, touch and nose - the body is invited to respond with movement. I am in a...
Majesty, Dear Willem Alexander, Last year at the Koningsdag concert, one of my favourite musicians played: violinist and composer Oene van Geel. On that occasion, his band zapp4 played together with a musician from my old world: recorder player Walter van Hauwe. In addition, surprising programming with David Kweksilber Big Band, leading lady Claron McFadden, tap dancer Peter Kuit and more. Great musicians...
She is small and petite, but as militant as a (Tamil) tiger. Indian writer Meena Kandasamy (1984) prefers to break with all conventions, and the word is her weapon. No Bollywood Anyone who thinks, based on the cover and the author's name, that The Gypsy Goddess is a sweet 'Bollywood novel' will be deceived. Meena Kandasamy's novel is about a true-life...
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...
That there is an extremist magazine about burnings and beheadings, and that rich Britons have four-storey basements built under their houses for a private cinema or bowling alley - we learned a lot last night at the International Literature Festival Utrecht (ILFU). The programme of the Saturday night of the ILFU was as richly varied as that of the first evening. The...
Jan Gielkens has won the Filter Translation Prize 2016 for his translation of The Words of Grimm by Günter Grass. The prize of ten thousand euros rewards the most exceptional translation achievement of the past year. Grass's novel, published last year by Meulenhoff, places high demands on the reader and the translator, the jury felt. 'Deftly navigates Gielkens'...
Visitors either thought it was 'very cool' or they thought it was 'absolutely nothing' - PJ Harvey's reading, the opening act at tonight's International Literature Festival Utrecht, evoked totally opposite reactions. Rock diva PJ Harvey is not only a musician, but also a visual artist and poet. At ILFU, as the festival has been called since this year, she read from her...
The past and future of the Netherlands Reisopera are dominated by money worries. Nicolas Mansfield, director, during the season presentation on 20 April last in the foyer of Theatre Carré, stressed not only the necessity of a national opera company's existence but, above all, the necessary quality requirements to keep attracting audiences. And quality cannot exist without decent...
Most impressive is the moment when the orchestra falls silent and Romeo tries desperately to storm the white wall behind which his sweetheart Juliet has disappeared. Time after time, he runs up the steep slope, only to slide down defeated each time. His wild jumps and trotting make his black coat tails flutter high, as if he were a tipsy bird in...
The historic Doelenzaal in Amsterdam, home to Internationaal Danstheater, will have flats. Those currently sitting there will have to leave. Doelenzaal sold The users of the Doelenzaal can all leave: International Dance Theatre, Omscholingsfonds Dansers, Dancing on the Edge, Musicians without Borders and Windmill Film. Because the building's new owner wants flats. The Doelenzaal, a design by architects Beirer and Bekkers who...
Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes is not a rewarding play to direct or perform. For that, the image of man that the American (1905-1984) portrays is simply too morbid. The Nationale Toneel, directed by Antoine Uitdehaag, unfortunately fails to add sufficient psychological layering to it. In The Little Foxes, successfully filmed in 1941 with Bette Davis in...
'No barbaric act can ever erase press freedom,' French President Hollande tweeted immediately after the bloody attack on the editors of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. German Chancellor Angela Merkel walked side by side with him in a mass demonstration for freedom of expression. But that was the reality of the time. Now she stands ...
In times of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, what power does the novel still have? Every so often, fiction is declared dead, but the International Literature Fesitval Utrecht (formerly City2Cities), which takes place this coming weekend in the former post office on the Neude, wants to show that novel pessimists are completely wrong. Nine highlights from the programme. PJ Harvey The Literature House, like last...
At Transatlantic The Dutch National Ballet dances works by four choreographers during the Holland Festival. They are male. They are white. They make classical ballet. Why this choice?
José Eduardo Agualusa, Elena Ferrante, Han Kang, Orhan Pamuk, Robert Seethaler and Yan Lianke have a chance to win the Man Booker International Prize 2016. The shortlist of six authors and titles was announced today. And, coincidence or not, we already interviewed one of the major contenders. Read that interview with José Eduardo Agualusa here, take in what he says about...
The Cinéma Arabe festival (from 19 April) is showing a rich palette of new work from the Arab World. Interview with director Hany Abu-Assad who sets a new tone with The Idol. And he has plans for a film about William of Orange. 'That will be my parting gift to the Netherlands.'
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