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Podcast in tijden van Corona (3): ‘We hebben het laatste bier uit de leidingen opgedronken en daarna het licht uitgedaan.’ (Over de sluiting van TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht)

‘Het was heel raar om hier weg te gaan. Zo’n plek die altijd aan is, waar het altijd druk is, waar het altijd licht is, dat was nu gewoon zwart.’ Lieke Timmermans, manager Marketing en Communicatie van TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht kan het nog steeds niet helemaal bevatten. Donderdag 12 maart 2020, na de persconferentie van de regering, moest het programma… 

Read More "Podcast in tijden van Corona (3): ‘We hebben het laatste bier uit de leidingen opgedronken en daarna het licht uitgedaan.’ (Over de sluiting van TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht)

Fred Goessens leaves ITA: 'In every group there is such a reliable lobster as me'

Fred Goessens has been dead, but is still alive. As uncompromising as ever. The Netherlands' most reliable actor makes an interim will after twenty-two years with Toneelgroep Amsterdam. 'I had shit on everything' This interview was published 10 years ago in TheaterMaker, the trade magazine for the theatre sector. As Fred Goessens is now leaving ITA, the company where he once... 

Read More "Fred Goessens leaves ITA: 'In every group there is such a reliable lobster as me'

When it suddenly feels complicated to clap. Play based on Rodaan al Galidi's novel delivers necessary discomfort

Talent ontwikkel je vaak dankzij forse tegenwerking. Rodaan Al Galidi kreeg talent voor het leven dankzij meer tegenwerking dan een witte, voormalig blonde Nederlander als ik ooit zal ontmoeten. Hij ontsnapte uit Irak en bracht vervolgens jaren door in het vagevuur van de IND en het COA, de afkortingen die de grens van Nederland bepalen. Hij schreef op wat hij… 

Read More "When it suddenly feels complicated to clap. Play based on Rodaan al Galidi's novel delivers necessary discomfort

Anfield's best pasties work against degradation. (Lessons from Manchester, episode 4, the Liverpool edition)

There is something incredibly cosy about it. While outside the storm is howling through deserted, boarded-up shopping streets full of demolished mini houses, baking pasties against the malady. But so it does work. On the side of The Kop, the most famous stand at the Anfield stadium on Liverpool's Oakfield Road, Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk established a neighbourhood cooperative in 2012, when megalomaniacal urban renewal plans... 

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Five stars. Or more. Why we need heroines like Tina Turner. 

What. Have. We. Terrible. Much. Too. Learning. If there is 1 thing the musical Tina makes clear, it is that. Especially at the stormy premiere, Sunday 9 February, a few hours before storm Ciara blew the last bubbles out of the Utrecht champagne glasses. An almost completely white auditorium, in Black Tie, that is, with only a few people from... 

Read More "Five stars. Or more. Why we need heroines like Tina Turner. 

Ekaterina Levental: 'I come from the very bottom of society, didn't even have the right to be here, was even less than a junkie.'

Singer, harpist and theatre-maker Ekaterina Levental (Tashkent, 1977) came to the Netherlands as a refugee in 1993, where she built a successful career. Together with her partner Chris Koolmees, she made the triptych De Weg, De Grens and Schoppenvrouw, in which she sings of her own difficult road to happiness. With her pocket performances, she holds up a mirror to us: 'We are quick to judge a... 

Read More "Ekaterina Levental: 'I come from the very bottom of society, didn't even have the right to be here, was even less than a junkie.'

Netherlands Wind Ensemble plays 9th Beethoven in collaboration with Consensus Vocalis and local choirs: All Together!

From Thursday 23 January, the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble (NBE) will play 9th Beethoven. The tour will take in venues in Amsterdam, Enschede, Tilburg, Wageningen, Drachten, Oss, Utrecht, Heerlen, Haarlem and Arnhem. In this great Beethoven year, the NBE chooses one of his most iconic works: the ninth symphony, with its famous ode Ode to Joy, on lyrics by Friedrich Schiller. In the political turmoil of around 1800, it was clear where Beethoven's sympathies lay: he was... 

Read More "Netherlands Wind Ensemble plays 9th Beethoven in collaboration with Consensus Vocalis and local choirs: All Together!

'Naked violin in search of a bow' - Maarten van Rossem opens 'Moesmania' in style. (with sound recording)

'All that remains for me to say is that I think it is a fantastic painting and that I find it downright criminal that the Heineken family is unwilling to display the painting in a public place. It shows what an incredible thug the Heineken family is.' Dixit Maarten van Rossem at the end of his speech at the... 

Read More "'Naked violin in search of a bow' - Maarten van Rossem opens 'Moesmania' in style. (with sound recording)
Photo: Sanne Peper

From Fleabag to Game of Thrones à la Hollandaise, Alum does us all a favour with The Dutchmen.

In the days when Europe was still a loose collection of city-states and duchies, where groups of men, for want of football, went on raids a few times a year to burn houses and rape women, a language emerged in the marshlands of the Rhine delta. We know this because plays were written in that language, which is among the earliest preserved... 

Read More "From Fleabag to Game of Thrones à la Hollandaise, Alum does us all a favour with The Dutchmen.

Deelder is Dead. Nadeche Pyka lives. Why People Say Things is the best literary festival in the Netherlands.

Jules Deelder instilled in me a love of poetry. He was there when I was in need of something other than the big-people poems that weren't about me, as a would-be punk. That was almost forty years ago now. He's just died, and heaven is also going jazz-ish. Last night, while the night mayor of Rotterdam... 

Read More "Deelder is Dead. Nadeche Pyka lives. Why People Say Things is the best literary festival in the Netherlands.

'The decision to underpay freelancers is incomprehensible and a blot on the record' - 'Leaders in Culture' call for fair payment of freelancers

'How many more talented creators do we have to lose to other sectors because they cannot reconcile the undervaluation with the quality of their product? People choose eggs for their money in the long run, when children need to be fed or mortgages paid. The sector is hollowing itself out if we don't take better care of our talent.' Thirty leaders in the cultural sector speak out 

Read More "'The decision to underpay freelancers is incomprehensible and a blot on the record' - 'Leaders in Culture' call for fair payment of freelancers

With sound. Honours for Marga Klompé; Action Tomato finally buried during commemoration.

The myth just had to end. Nan van Houte, former director of Amsterdam's small theatre Frascati, has buried Action Tomato. During Requiem for Tomato, on 4 November 2019, she made it crystal clear that this legendary event has been measured too big by our theatre historians. In 1969, when a few tomatoes were sent to the al... 

Read More "With sound. Honours for Marga Klompé; Action Tomato finally buried during commemoration.

Colleges have been left out of all discussions on education for far too long.

"When you tell it, it all seems so logical," a good friend said last week, "if a board were to hear this..." Education, every day it is in the newspaper and we debate society-wide dully about the importance of good education, about teacher shortages and class sizes. While the cabinet sits mute in the hope of getting out from under... 

Read More "Colleges have been left out of all discussions on education for far too long.

If no one comes up with a Plan B... 

On 23 October, website Theaterkrant.nl wrote a piece on the future of the performing arts. A future that is black and gloomy when you, as a creator, count on growth, or even survival at all. In short: so much money is going away from the Performing Arts Fund, that from next year only between 50 and 60 applications can be honoured, in... 

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'I decided to make an unabashedly grand romantic gesture and blow people away' - Mathilde Wantenaar writes new piece for Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Being creative on demand? That's impossible, you might think. Yet it is the reality for composers and artists who work on commission. Mathilde Wantenaar (1993) therefore got acute choice stress when the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra asked her for a new piece. She was just working on a commission from De Nationale Opera. 'I felt like a rabbit in the... 

Read More "'I decided to make an unabashedly grand romantic gesture and blow people away' - Mathilde Wantenaar writes new piece for Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

"'Well nice' is not good enough, that falls right off." Film critic Jan Pieter Ekker on possibly the last Directors' Forum at the Dutch Film Festival

The Dutch Film Festival is about to erupt. A spacious week with a broad overview of everything moving on Dutch screens, from public film to short student film. Last year was noisy: directors, editors and cameramen expressed gloom about the quality and guts of patriotic film. Visitor numbers don't seem to be overblown either, although... 

Read More ""'Well nice' is not good enough, that falls right off." Film critic Jan Pieter Ekker on possibly the last Directors' Forum at the Dutch Film Festival

'I hope we will all slip into another world.' Calliope Tsoupaki writes Bosch Requiem 'Liknon' for November Music

In 1988, Calliope Tsoupaki (1963) came to the Netherlands from Greece to study composition with Louis Andriessen. Exactly 30 years later, she was appointed 'Composer of the Fatherland'. In that capacity, she has already composed some highly topical pieces. When Notre Dame de Paris caught fire on 15 April, Tsoupaki immediately climbed into the pen. Five days later... 

Read More "'I hope we will all slip into another world.' Calliope Tsoupaki writes Bosch Requiem 'Liknon' for November Music

In the end, we all go. Why Boukje Schweigman's 'Fall' is irresistible. 

Boukje Schweigman's world is exciting, but never deadly. Whether she makes an experiential performance in a beautiful location during a summer festival, or takes a more artful approach in the plays she makes for theatres: you only see nice people. Even in Val, her latest. In it, we see a lot of nice people falling. Falling deep, sometimes.... 

Read More "In the end, we all go. Why Boukje Schweigman's 'Fall' is irresistible. 

The flip side of Fair Practice: Kunstenbond in impossible split after 'relaunch' Utrecht Centre for the Arts.

'Poignant to see how a lack of decisiveness, clarity and leadership - at both the Utrecht municipality and the management of the KLA - could lead to a split and even rupture among employees.' Karin Boelhouwer of the Kunstenbond is stuck with it, and she has a point. The Utrecht Centre for the Arts (UCK) recently went officially bankrupt. A major... 

Read More "The flip side of Fair Practice: Kunstenbond in impossible split after 'relaunch' Utrecht Centre for the Arts.

Who again said modern music was humourless and cerebral? American Kelley Sheehan wins in Music Week full of humour and reflection

For a moment, the envelope seems unopenable but then Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven conjures up the redeeming paper after all. 'The winner of the 2019 Gaudeamus Award is Kelley Sheehan!' The little American almost falls off her stool in amazement. Probably not entirely by chance, the new music organisation has positioned her right in the middle of her four fellow candidates. - She herself would... 

Read More "Who again said modern music was humourless and cerebral? American Kelley Sheehan wins in Music Week full of humour and reflection

What is it with borders? In theatre play The Border, we learn where life is always better.

There has been quite a lot going on about borders, lately. That is what authors Floor Leene and Greg Nottrot have created a play about, together with Wil van der Meer, Tijs Huys and Pascal van Hulst. Directed by Daniël van Klaveren, the Nieuw Utrechts Toneel (NUT) ensemble performs the play on the oldest border we know,... 

Read More "What is it with borders? In theatre play The Border, we learn where life is always better.

Why youth is the future and fake art does not lead to real art at Theatre Festival Boulevard.

Bossche Theatre Artemis is, after International Theatre Amsterdam, the best theatre company in the Netherlands. The company owes this to an illustrious past (Pauline Mol!!) and to Jetse Batelaan. This director recently received the prestigious Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale for his disruptive oeuvre. This consists largely of performances in which children take power, without... 

Read More "Why youth is the future and fake art does not lead to real art at Theatre Festival Boulevard.
The true Picasso of ballet are Franck Chartier and Gabriela Carizzo

The true Picasso of ballet are Franck Chartier and Gabriela Carizzo

Amsterdam is once again spoilt for choice with Julidans, an international festival packed with impressive dance. The second festival night features Child by Peeping Tom. The work of this Brussels-based company is a phenomenon and I am a fan of it. Ever since its dance trilogy at NDT1: The missing door (2013), The lost room (2015), The hidden floor (2017) (reviews under... 

Read More "The true Picasso of ballet are Franck Chartier and Gabriela Carizzo

Colin Benders plays Concertgebouw flat on closing night of memorable Holland Festival 2019

Stereo is primitive. Cinema operators have known that for a while, and so has anyone with a 7:1 set to go with their TV. Two speakers, no matter how good and big or small, remain two speakers. Now, of course, we also only have two ears, but they can place 360-degree sound thanks to some clever ribbing and our own smart brains. So sound should be... 

Read More "Colin Benders plays Concertgebouw flat on closing night of memorable Holland Festival 2019

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