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Shostakovich

Music publicist Maarten Brandt: 'For one note from Mahler's Ninth, I would give the gift of Shostakovich's entire oeuvre'

by Thea Derks
19 November 201819 August 2019
13 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Sounding Alchemy, is the name of the chunky volume recently published by music publicist Maarten Brandt (1953). It has 715 pages, including illustrations and an extensive index. In 98 articles, Brandt unfolds his views on music and music programming. He dedicated the beautifully designed book to Marius Flothuis, whom he admired and who was programmer of the Concertgebouw Orchestra for many years. His heirs received a first copy during...

Sofia Gubaidoelina: 'Only in the West could I set myself large-scale goals and realise them'

by Thea Derks
19 March 201827 September 2018
6 min read
MUSIC, PODIUM ART

Sofia Gubaidoelina has become a true audience favourite in our country. She is also a welcome guest in broadcasting series. The AVROTROS Friday Concert, for instance, brought the Dutch premieres of Glorious Percussion (2011) and O Komm, Heiliger Geist (2016). Friday 23 March will see the first Dutch performance of her Triple Concerto for bayan, violin and cello. The piece is dedicated to...

Symphony of Psalms Igor Stravinsky: away with romantic sentiment

by Thea Derks
21 January 201830 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, MUSIC, PODIUM ART

On Wednesday 24 January, the Nederlands Kamerkoor presents an adventurous concert at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ to kick off a short tour. On the lecterns are rarely heard music by Lili Boulanger and Ton de Leeuw. The highlight is Igor Stravinsky's famous Psalm Symphony in a version for choir and piano four hands by Dmitri Shostakovich. Ralph van Raat and Bobby Mitchell sign...

Cello Biënnale vol hoogtepunten: ‘Cellisten zijn nu eenmaal aardige mensen’

by Wenneke Savenije
30 October 201620 February 2017
9 min read
Cello Biënnale, MUSIC, PODIUM ART

Het ronkt, zoemt, zingt, zaagt en gonst niet langer in het het Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. De cellokaravaan is vertrokken. De zesde editie van de Cello Biënnale Amsterdam zit erop en laat bij de duizenden cello- en muziekfans een gevoel van leegte achter. Nergens anders speelt zich in tien dagen tijd zo’n geweldig cellofeest af, waar het publiek zich van…

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016): Fins ikoon van de eigentijdse muziek

by Thea Derks
28 July 201630 March 2022
3 min read
For members only, MUSIC, OPERA, PODIUM ART

Afgelopen woensdagnacht, 27 juli overleed Einojuhani Rautavaara in zijn huis in Helsinki, ten gevolge van complicaties bij een operatie. Hij werd 87 jaar oud en gold algemeen als de ongekroonde troonopvolger van Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), die rond 1930 zijn laatste noten schreef.

Conductor Han-Na Chang: 'Music never offers just one answer'

by Thea Derks
14 May 201630 March 2022
8 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

'She is the embodiment of the incredible lightness of existence, agile, alert and precise on the beat.' So says one critic about Korean-American conductor Han-Na Chang (Suwon, 1982), who led just about every major orchestra after her debut in 2007. In 2014, she scored highly at the renowned BBC Proms with her fresh interpretation of the Fifth Symphony....

Violinist Daniel Rowland: 'One spontaneous action can change the world'

by Thea Derks
21 December 201530 March 2022
9 min read
For members only, MUSIC, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The healing power of music, some firmly believe in it - in 2013, it was even the premise of the City of London Festival. Believing that music can connect people and have a healing effect on conflictual societies, festival director Ian Ritchie asked the Brodsky Quartet to commission a composition around this theme. Thus was born the by...

De muziek van Arvo Pärt: niet altijd een warm bad

by Thea Derks
20 November 201530 March 2022
6 min read
For members only, MUSIC, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Welke titels schieten je te binnen bij de naam Arvo Pärt? Sonatine opus 1; Symfonie nr. 1; Perpetuum mobile, of Fratres; Für Alina; Spiegel im Spiegel? Ik gok op de tweede reeks, want met dit soort stukken veroverde Pärt eind twintigste eeuw de wereld. Het publiek stroomde in drommen toe om zich onder te dompelen in zijn welluidende klankwereld, maar…

Een vitale en deerniswekkende processie: William Kentridge in EYE

by George Vermij
27 April 201530 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, IMAGING, FILM, Holland Festival, OPERA

EYE profileert zich met haar nieuwste overzichtstentoonstelling If We Ever Get To Heaven weer overtuigend en zelfverzekerd als een museum dat verder kijkt dan alleen de filmgeschiedenis. Dat bleek al uit eerdere tentoonstellingen zoals Expanded Cinema waarin beeldend kunstenaars werden belicht die zich begaven op het snijvlak van film en kunst. Nu is aan William Kentridge de eer ten deel…

Top talent in final Princess Christina Competition

by Thea Derks
27 April 201530 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC

On Sunday afternoon 26 April, I was a member of the press jury at the final of the Prinses Christina Competition in Lucent Danstheater in The Hague. Definitely not a punishment, as all six finalists performed at top level, no matter how young and inexperienced they were. Time and again, the organisation proves that all the gloom about the future of classical music is nonsense: this year too, there were...

Composer Henryk Górecki: art or kitsch?

by Thea Derks
12 February 201530 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC

This Saturday, 14 February 2015, Reinbert de Leeuw will conduct the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Polish composer Henryk Górecki's (1933-2010) Fourth Symphony at the NTR Saturday matinee. Górecki established his name overnight in 1992, when the CD of his Third Symphony shot to the top of the classical charts like a flare. The recording of this Symphony...

Festival 'Alba Rosa Viva' puts forgotten composer centre stage

by Thea Derks
23 September 201430 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC

This Sunday, September 28, the one-day festival Alba Rosa Viva will take place in Utrecht, in honour of the 125th birth anniversary of Alba Rosa Viëtor. Alba Rosa who?!!! Well, Alba Rosa Viëtor was an Italian violinist and composer who was born Alba Rosa in Milan in 1889. In 1919, she married Dutch businessman Jan Freseman Viëtor and in...

Reinbert de Leeuw in Zomergasten, not in Muziekzomer

by Thea Derks
14 July 201430 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MUSIC

In just over two weeks, the NJO Music Summer, with more than sixty-five concerts performed by young musicians, spread across more and less obvious locations in the province of Gelderland. One hundred and sixty young people flocked from all over the world to show their skills from 1 to 17 August. Anyone staying in Gelderland at that time could not possibly miss their presence.

NJO eert Steve Reich

by Thea Derks
12 August 20138 July 2016
3 min read
ACTUAL, MUSIC

Al vanaf de oprichting van de NJO Summer Academy in 2001 staat jaarlijks één componist centraal, in de huidige aflevering is dat Steve Reich (1936). Tijdens de NJO Muziekzomer spelen tweehonderd muziekstudenten uit vijftien landen een flink aantal composities van de Amerikaanse grootmeester.

Anna Mikhailova: ‘Black Perfume gaat over verslaving en angst’

by Thea Derks
10 December 201230 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, MUSIC

Amsterdam, 10-12-2012 – Afgelopen weekend begon het Babelfestival in het Ostadetheater, een initiatief van de Diamantfabriek. Deze twee jaar geleden opgerichte productiekern biedt jonge makers de kans kleinschalig muziektheater te ontwikkelen. Dit weekend volgt de première van Black Perfume, van de Russische componiste Anna Mikhailova en de Nederlandse regisseur Annechien Koerselman, naar het verhaal Morfine van Michail Boelgakov.

Mahler Chamber Orchestra flirt vrolijk met Haydn, maar Russische componisten doen je het lachen vergaan #hf12

by one of our members
8 June 201213 February 2019
3 min read
Holland Festival, SPECIALS

Heus waar. Er wordt gelachen in de klassieke muziek. Bij menig orkestrepetitie zijn de altvioolgrapjes niet van de lucht. En in het Concertgebouw kun je wel eens wat besmuikt gegniffel opvangen. Maar klassieke componisten staan niet bekend om hun humor. Behalve Joseph Haydn. De Weense componist bracht hier en daar een gezellige kwinkslag aan in zijn werk. Eén van zijn…

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