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It's raining at Amsterdam's Muziektheater. Armide impresses at De Nederlandse Opera.

It's raining at Amsterdam's Muziektheater.

When Crusader Renaud sings of an idyllic landscape half an hour after the performance begins, the curtain rises deliciously slowly. It adds a breathtaking dimension to the opera, which until then had been set on a small and sparse landscape on the front stage.

'Readers need to be approached in a different way'

Writers Unlimited Special - One of the important guests at Writers Unlimited is Roland Colastica. This Curaçao author made his debut in 2012 with the children's book 'Fireworks in my head'. The book was enthusiastically received, and has since grown into a modest bestseller. Great strength of the story is its colourful and rhythmic style, but just as important is

Germany investing in culture? Not really.

We too retweeted it: "Germany increases culture subsidy by 100 million". And we thus fed a half-truth. That half-truth is, that Germany is a heaven for culture lovers, a haven for people fed up with the chilly austerity of the Rutte governments. Germany may seem nice, but, As Volkskrant correspondent Merlijn Schoonenboom noted in March this year, cuts are being made there at least as hard as here.

Death Grips is 20 min of breathtaking frenzy

The experimental hip-hop / noise band Death Grips plays frothy twang noise. But very exciting, interesting branch noise with paranoid, surreal lyrics. Live, it was a breath of fresh air. In their concert in Bittersweet (presented by Paradiso), vocalist MC Ride (Stefan Burnett) and drummer Zach Hill unleash a 20-minute hurricane of breathtaking fury.

NFF 2012: premiere of George Sluizer's unfinished Dark Blood

Perhaps expectations were simply too high at the premiere of George Sluizer's 19-year-old, and now completed Dark Blood. Because, of course, it is entirely appropriate that the Netherlands Film Festival has taken the opportunity for a fine retrospective of Sluizer, one of the Netherlands' most distinguished filmmakers with the world as its purview. Maker of the blood-curdling... 

In Accordion Wrestling, 10 Finnish wrestlers compete with 1 accordion player. The weirdest show on #hf12

One by one, Helsinki Nelson's wrestlers come running onto the stage of the City Theatre. On the mat is the biggest of the bunch, lying on his stomach, stretched out in a defensive position. Alternately, his opponent tries to tip him, pushing him flat on the mat with both his shoulders. In vain. Accordion punk rocker Kommi Pohjonen comes on, and... 

Blood-soaked Macbeth fits festival theme perfectly but fails to touch #HF12

Imagine Arjan Robben. The much-troubled frontman of the Dutch national team has just seen a brilliant move rewarded with a penalty and he is ready to take it. Out comes a field hand with a new set of adhesive letters for his shirt because the numbers are no longer legible from the stands. Lots of lashing, shirt off, seconds glue. Circumstances, in short. After two minutes, the fielder is gone, the number readable and the referee's whistle sounds. Then try to hit the target.

Theft of art on streets rises 20%

Copper is expensive, and bronze, the material from which many statues on the street are made, is largely copper. And if it's on the street, you take it with you. Even if it is bolted down. Rodin's Thinker in Laren was sawn down and partially melted down, and the same happened to Simon Carmiggelt and his wife. At Boris van der Ham's request,... 

5-hour marathon Roman Tragedies favourite with spectators Toneelgroep Amsterdam

We were somewhat mildly ironic about it, but hats off, meanwhile, to Toneelgroep Amsterdam's PR department and the audience, who responded remarkably well to the 'choose the reprise' campaign the company launched a few weeks back. We have the hard numbers we feared we would never see. And they are credible. We quote the press release: From 2 to... 

Museums, Boxmeer theatre, IKON, ANP, regional broadcasters, impoverished library

MuseumgoudA not expelled MuseumgoudA may still remain a member of the Dutch Museum Association (NMV). A majority of the members were still of the opinion in September that the museum should be expelled because it had auctioned Marlene Dumas' The Schoolboys at the end of June without consulting other museums. That is against the NMV's rules. It did, however, decide to change the rules for the... 

Daily news: Sale in Rotterdam, protests in Amsterdam and an arts centre closes in the south

Culture sector signs agreement on youth pass Eight umbrella organisations in the culture sector signed a covenant on Wednesday advocating the continued existence, albeit in modified form, of the Culture Card. It should remain free, but will henceforth only give discounts on cultural outings. The 15-euro credit will disappear because the state will no longer provide subsidies. Instead, students in the... 

Discount news: cut in government websites and action for Metropole orchestra

Donner Puts Knife In Websites Central Government The ministries collectively run nearly 400 websites, most of which do not meet official accessibility requirements. Minister Donner wants a clean-up first. (...) The municipalities, of which only 2 per cent fully comply with the web guidelines, have until the end of 2012 to comply with the lowest level and another two years after that to fully... 

Sarah Moeremans camps out at the theatre and shows young actors all over it during #dekeuze

Director, actress and theatre designer Sarah Moeremans is holding office in the lobby of the Rotterdam Schouwburg for a year. Titled "My First Camp", she has moved into the front hall to be more in touch with the various users and visitors in the building and the world around it. Has the public space become a wilderness, which... 

Royishment threatens Gouds Museum over sale of Dumas painting to unknown party

Ok. It is not Victory Boogie Woogie, the Mondrian painting that, in a distant and then cultural past, embarrassed ministry and municipality of Hilversum, because of the planned sale of the canvas to pay for the renovation of the town hall. Still. 'Schoolboys' by Marlene Dumas is also a canvas by a cherished painter, and you don't sell that either 

That was him then. The March of Civilisation. And so was the chamber's Culture Committee debate on Halbe Zijlstra's letter.

With a small break for much-needed sleep, we were active for over 27 hours with a liveblog on the March of Civilisation. Hard work, and at first we suffered from some start-up problems. After all: setting up such a liveblog requires some structure in the approach. We had introduced a few so-called #hashtags, such as #marsderbeschaving, which on twitter allow people to share their... 

That could well be a big event next weekend

We are not big on copying press releases directly, but this one accidentally slipped in. For those who didn't know it yet, but tout art is going loopy on Sunday and Monday for the preservation of sanity in the Netherlands. Although that will have no effect on the architect of the cut, PVV member Martin Bosma. Even the cultural sector in Limburg (Geert... 

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

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... 

'There are provinces where you can vote VVD or CDA just fine'; new website gives voting tips to art lovers

It looked like a party. Coffee and flan, a Maastricht song, brass band music and a speech by Prince Carnival. Optimism surrounded the launch of the website nadeschreeuwnudestem.nl on 21 February. Surely the cry for culture in November was mainly a voice of dissent. Now there is a chance to take forward-looking action. 'Mobilise everyone you know to join the March 2... 

Reviewers on the fortieth Rotterdam International Film Festival: lots of Chinese loneliness and that Russian needs to hit the cinemas

OK. A pilot. When Jeroen Stout lost his Wednesday film fork in Radio Kunststof on Radio 1 in December 2010, we made him an offer he could easily refuse: to do something like that with us. But that we would then look for a way that suits The Dodo. After all, audio online may be the... 

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