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So up close, and so small occupied as at La Petite Bande, Bach's St John Passion comes in in a very distinctive way.

Ik ben geen kenner van de uitvoeringspraktijk van Bachs Johannes Passion en ken dat andere stuk, de Mattaheus Passion, vooral van een paar tv-fragmenten en verregaande bewerkingen zoals die bij Platels Pitié. Verwacht van mij dus geen oordeel over hoe goed de versie was, die op 5 april 2011 in het Concertgebouw te zien en te horen was, in verhouding… 

Current 93 survives music industry malaise on a diet of lots of love and dog-eared fans

Reports of the collapsing music industry have been rife. Apparently, as a musician, you no longer survive on the basis of record sales (alone). In niche genres, however, it is easy to survive. So proves the band Current 93, which performed in Stadtgarten, Cologne, last week. Playing live a lot and selling merchandise seems to be the golden rule for... 

Death Horse puts on bold shoes and waves goodbye to Shakespeare in 'Bye Bye'

Amsterdam-based company Dood Paard itself translated Shakespeare's 'Othello' and waves goodbye to the bard with 'Bye Bye'. The quirky collective performs a one-and-a-half-hour topical comedy of manners and soul mirror, in which pointing at 'The Other' is central. Shakespeare's plays are quite often performed quite reverently. . Moreover, the adored 'bard' from Stratford-upon-Avon has bestowed on the English language countless expressions that have come to... 

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

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.... 

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

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.

With the best actors of their generation, Oostpool makes beautiful theatre of J.D. Salinger's America

Things become more fascinating when you look back on them 30 years or so later. Three decades make the life you were once in the middle of history, and that is happening to my generation (40-somethings) now with the second half of the last century. Hence the success of Jonathan Frantzen's masterpieces Freedom and The Corrections, and hence the success of a DVD series like Mad Men.... 

Ifigeneia had to die, according to the reconstruction by the jubilee Theatre Group Alum

"That looks like a book series!" my wife spoke with some horror upon seeing the cover of 'The Revenge of Iphigenia'. And yes, it has to be said: in book format, the poster of Theatre Group Alum's latest theatre production is a bit too much of a stretch. From the A0 poster, you would never have thought so. Indeed: those posters of Alum, which... 

Diego del Morao does himself a great disservice at Flamenco Biennale with unprofessional stage presentation

Between 21 and 30 January 2011, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam will host the Flamenco Biennial, a music and dance fest around that mythical Spanish primal music that leaves no one untouched. A style of music, moreover, that developed in parallel with the history of the Iberian peninsula, where the culture of the Indian Roma gypsies came together with that of the... 

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

Rotterdam - That every disadvantage 'hep' its advantage is often apparent with symphony orchestras. A chief 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. For instance, Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic as well as... 

Anne Sofie von Otter in De Doelen: 'classical' Bach comes off worst, triumph for 'populist' Handel

Onder liefhebbers van de muziek van leeftijdgenoten Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) en George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) is het gekissebis goed vergelijkbaar met dat tussen de aanhangers van Beatles en Rolling Stones. Bach is klassiek, Handel populistisch, Bach schreef verheven muziek, Handel platvloerse , Bach was (zijn Matthäus Passion uitgezonderd) beknopt in zijn muzikale statements, Handel emmerde oeverloos door. En zo… 

How much darkness can a theatre-goer handle? Alize Zandwijk tests it with 'Dog days'.

Beppe Costa. Who doesn't know him. And who wouldn't go to a show he plays in without thinking for a minute? After all, the little Italian musical jack-of-all-trades is capable of winning hearts with his music. And with his presence. Well. Director Alize Zandwijk must have thought: we're going to change that image completely this autumn,... 

What Bert Hana can do, you don't learn at any school: turn your own life into art. #njc10

Wonderful though theatre is. The closing night of the Autumn Collection festival made me realise once again that the best actors do not always make the best performance. Expressiveness depends on more than acting talent and a proven literary text.

Two idols and lots of cute girls at Saturday's Autumn Collection #njc10

Het viel op: wat een hoop leuke meisjes in Theater Kikker. Zou het door de programmering komen? Nu waren er een hoop leuke mannen om uit te kiezen op zaterdagavond. De stoere acteerbeesten van FC Bergman bijvoorbeeld, of de androgyne Nik van den Berg, of misschien de ogenschijnlijk lieve Bert Hana. En anders was er altijd nog DJ Oscar Kocken,… 

Bouncing along with the funny, touching, uncontrollable Ray in Renske van den Broek's musical theatre performance Fast Car #njc10

Onstuitbare, grappige, ontroerende Fast Car Ray. Een jongen wiens hoofd nooit stilstaat, die niet slaapt, bij wie alles binnenkomt en die er maar niet in slaagt van zichzelf te houden. Zijn ziekte, Het Syndroom van Gilles de la Tourette, maakt hem waanzinnig en wanhopig. Tikketakketikketakke. Door, steeds maar door. Als een raceauto.

Cinekid Awards 2010 - Everyone loves Foeksia

Johan Nijenhuis' Foeksia de miniheks has become the big audience favourite of Cinekid, the festival for film, television and new media for young people. Friday evening, it was announced at the awards ceremony that Foeksia had won both the general audience award (Z@pp Cinekid Lion) and the audience award for best Dutch children's film. Foeksia the Mini-Witch, based on the book of the same name by Paul van Z... 

Sometimes a story is beautiful enough when told: Autoroute du Soleil by Leen Verheyen demonstrates that

Ooit, heel lang geleden in een ander land dan vandaag, was er een toneeltekst over een jongen uit Bosnië die mensenmassa’s aan het huilen bracht. Ad de Bont had met Mirad, een jongen uit Bosnië niet alleen een gevoelig verhaal geschreven, maar hij vond ook de perfecte manier om dat verhaal te brengen. Het uit brieven van en aan een… 

GDMW: Seven learning moments about literature, Rotterdam, Utrecht and partying

GDMW festival comes from the tube of the only literary magazine still doing a bit in the Netherlands: Passionate Magazine. A bit contrary, youthful but not juvenile and with an open eye to the many cultures in the city where it was founded: Rotterdam. The festival is a happy combo of literary content, happy poets, embarrassing displays and beer,... 

'One hour listening and half an hour talking to Clinton for 100,000 euros. Or new breasts.' Concrete questions on The International Choice. #hechoice

Het Dodo Internationale Keuze-journaal, aflevering 3: Hans van Dam zag ‘Investment’ en sprak met maker Davis Freeman, over wat je allemaal met een ton kunt doen. Het roept associaties op met de fameuze TED-talks en doet denken aan de powerpointdocumentaire ‘An Inconvenient Truth‘, waarmee Al Gore de wereld trachtte wakker te schudden over de klimaatverandering. Wat Davis Freeman doet is kleiner, maar… 

We will be there every day at The International Choice. With text. With video. With news and reviews

Tomorrow begins The International Choice of The Rotterdam Theatre. A festival that for years has presented remarkable theatre from all over the world at the Maasstad's theatre in September. Except this year, that is, because the 'chest of quist' is being rebuilt and that will take some time. Not something with Amsterdam metro builders, but whether the official reopening on 2 October 2010 will be... 

Russian soul dissected: religion and vodka create moral dilemmas

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.

Spektakelgroep Vis à Vis geeft alle ruimte aan de fantasie en overtreft zichzelf in droomspektakel Silo8

Vliegende verpleegsters. Daar kijken we niet meer van op. We hebben allemaal Mary Poppins gezien. Dat ze bij Vis a Vis, bij het strand van Almere, in plaats van onzichtbare touwtjes een vijftig meter hoge bouwkraan inzetten voor zo’n speciale opkomst is dan spectaculair en leuk, maar meer ook niet. Kwestie van geld en middelen. De volgende show heeft wel… 

Meanwhile at the Holland Festival: Press cheers over Dog's Heart and doubts Anne Therese de Keersemaeker #hf10

 Not all was negative around Sam Mendes' Bridge Project, which was received rather sparingly by us at The Dodo, and a few other media outlets. Apart from a few positive Twitter reactions, the performance of The Tempest also garnered a pretty nice review from Volkskrant reviewer Karin Veraart, who admired music, directorial discoveries and acting performances by Stephen Dillane in particular and the fresh couple... 

High praise for Curlew River; less for De Keersemaeker and Mendes #hf10

 Curlew River Photo: Bertrand Stofleth For every independent journalist in the Netherlands, there are about 15 information officers. It is therefore obvious that these spokespeople largely determine the image in the media. Could that be why in the newspapers and television programmes surrounding the Holland Festival, the announcements are far more numerous than the critical reviews? A look at the... 

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