The Hague

Toonkunst Choir not afraid of Peasant Wedding Stravinsky
Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam has had a name to live up to since its establishment in 1829. In earlier times, it was invariably on hand when the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg performed large-scale choral works. Although the choir still consists of amateurs and its ties with the illustrious orchestra have weakened, it still puts (very) demanding pieces on its desks. For instance, the...

The National Theatre prevented Stopera from becoming The National Theatre
It would have been so nice: The National Ballet together with The National Opera in The National Theatre, as you have in the capital of any self-respecting country. But so that didn't happen. The home of our National Opera and Ballet clubs is now called 'Nationale Opera en Ballet'. The National Theatre made sure of that, which, like the Nederlands Dans Theater, is not in our capital Amsterdam, but in its residence in The Hague.

Collection shuffling, Rutte II's new hobby
The Geldmuseum gaat over een maand dicht, maar de collectie (voor zover belangrijk) gaat naar De Nederlandsche Bank. Het Tropenmuseum is opgeheven, maar de collection wordt elders ondergebracht. De bibliotheek wordt echter maar voor de helft gered: alles van na 1950 is volgens minister Bussemaker niet interessant genoeg om te bewaren. Dit blijkt uit de antwoorden die de minister van Cultuur Bussemaker heeft gegeven op vragen van de SP.

Oppressive (audience) manipulation in The Red Piece
'Don't let anyone leave the room without having experienced or felt something.' That is surely and surely the mission with Flemish Ann Van den Broek's work. If the mood swings in The Red Piece don't do much to you, your retinas will burn out from the changes in lighting design. You might just think you are being manipulated as an audience. But you gladly allow it.

Money: the biggest threat to our cultural heritage
Update: According to the Film Newspaper, it's not all that bad: http://www.filmkrant.nl/nieuws_2013/9842
It was announced today that a large archive containing almost all raw film material from the Netherlands in the shredder threatens to disappear. Since film laboratory Cineco is bankrupt due to the vanished demand for oldskool celluloid, the vault containing unique historical material must also go. Unless someone comes forward who wants to store the material. And that costs quite a bit of money. Even though we no longer work with the highly flammable nitrate films, all that plastic does need to be kept safe.
Departure of business leader Nederlands Dans Theater Van Leer for personal reasons
On the day that a vote was to be held in The Hague on the new Spui Forum, it has been announced that Robert van Leer is leaving as business director of Nederlands Dans Theater. Van Leer is resigning for purely "personal reasons", according to the press officer of the renowned dance company.

Crushingly good: Nine Rivers by composer James Dillon, with conductor and percussionist Steven Schick @HollandFestival

From the mild, everyday cacophony around the Muziekgebouw in the afternoon, on the terrace by the IJ, you'll get into the silence of the concert hall in a few steps. For three and a half hours (with over two hours of breaks in between), Asko|Schönberg, Slagwerk Den Haag and Capella Amsterdam will play and sing your ears off. Steven Schick (a.o. once Bang on a Can), not only conducts, but also takes charge of the middle part of the concert, at the Bimhuis, as a percussionist. Under his inspired direction, 'Nine Rivers' navigates between spectacle and purism: a battle between complex form and the simplicity of raw sound matter.

'A lot of art is too much about pleasing'
It started with an email out of the blue. Artist Joncquil had Googled my website and was struck by the name. I myself had almost forgotten how I had ever come up with the name, Joy of Irony: a song by the legendary, highly underrated English noise/metal band Fudge Tunnel. Joncquil came to my site because of his expo at the time, Himmel und Joy. He had read some of my pieces and introduced himself. Maybe one day we could have coffee to talk a bit about art.
Thus it happened.

Dutch dance audience chooses Belgian dance
The Dutch Dance Audience Award 2012 was awarded on Saturday 9 February 2013 to the Belgian performance Et Après By Isabelle Beernaert. During the festive ceremony on the closing night of The Hague CaDance Festival, awards were also presented to