utrecht
Victor, beautiful duet about contemporary male danger
Putting a man and a boy on stage together - upper body bared; in today's times, that means asking for trouble. Our gaze, saturated by paedophilia scandals, leaves little in the way of intimacy between what could also be father and son, brothers or friends. But 'Victor' by choreographer Jan Martens and director Peter Seynaeve is no good, politically correct repartee. In their search for a loving look at the relationship between husband and child, they also consistently push the boundaries of what is permissible.
Revolt against art partly caused by museum-less era?
More than a decade without national pride does a lot to a country. Could it be true that the simultaneous closure of Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum contributed to the
'Everyone is happy to be part of something so beautiful.' Stut Choir and Irish performers sing together for the first time. #vvu
Radiant faces and swinging bodies filled the rehearsal room of the Utrecht-based Stut Choir in Overvecht. For the first time, the members collaborated with Irish singer Lorna McLaughlin of The Henry Girls and conductors Neil Burns and Anna Nolan of the Inishowen Gospel Choir. On 21 June, the two choirs will join the three Henry Girls sisters on stage at the Stadsschouwburg Utrecht.
16th Holland Animation Film Festival opens with Monty Python and abstract animation in 3D
That almost all major US family films and many action films are in 3D is by now self-evident. But contrary to predictions
Vredenburg Friday in 'Red Box' for one more season
When Muziekcentrum Vredenburg closed its doors in 2007 for an ambitious renovation, symphonic concerts were moved from the centre of Utrecht to the emergency location Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn on the A2 motorway. The broadcasting series 'Vredenburg Friday'
The best woman in the best place: Ellen Walraven director Rotterdam Schouwburg
This was a possibility not many people initially thought of. After all, after her tropical years as director of the Amsterdam debating centre De Balie, Ellen Walraven was in need of some more substantive work and peace and quiet on her mind, So we suspected that she would stay on in
Cultural anthropologist on stage
Treaty of UtrechtMarjolein Jegerings (21) studies cultural anthropology at Utrecht University and went to Guatemala last year for her undergraduate research on conflict mediation. When she had just returned, she called
Utrecht deploys army at opening of festive year
200 military personnel and JunkieXL are expected to cause a spectacle on the A2 motorway near Utrecht on 13 April. The roof of the new tunnel trench will be the stage for a battle of medieval proportions, in which peace will be conquered by our army over something with a wall and 'war' on it.
Theatres take matters into their own hands
As the government has killed the entire circuit of production houses and further education, seven theatres have jumped into the gap. They are joining forces to enable a number of 'young' makers to develop their work after all. By offering a number of performances in advance
'Anti-Greek' facade banner Theatre Frog destroyed after protests
We received this via Facebook: "During the night of Friday 11 to Saturday 12 January at 1.30am, a group of about seven young men destroyed a large canvas hanging on the facade of Theatre Kikker on the Ganzenmarkt in Utrecht. The canvas, which
Peter van Onna: 'Treaty of Utrecht is also topical now'
Three hundred years ago, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, bringing an end to both the War of Spanish Succession, and the War of Queen Anne. Remarkably, this peace treaty was not negotiated on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table. It took a year and a half for the many parties to come to an agreement, and the treaty counts as the beginning of...
Culture Press ratings: thick 300,000 minutes of attention
With paper, you never know ('0.3% of newspaper readers read the reviews on the art page'), and with TV it's always a bit of estimating and extrapolating too, but the internet is rock hard. We know how many times you read one of our pieces, and how long you lingered at our videos. Well: we were already proud last year, now we are well over 200,000
Egidius Quartet came, saw and conquered
Utrecht, 22-12-2013 - After the final notes of Pierre de Machicourt's motet Reges Terrae, the audience stood in Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh as one man on to the Egidius Quartet rewarding them with a well-deserved ovation.
'In STUT I process what I experience' Community Arts Lab is exciting as well as relaxing. #vvu
STUT is a household name. The neighbourhood theatre group has been putting on performances with and about ordinary people from ordinary Utrecht neighbourhoods since 1977. In 2010, the theatre group gave birth to the Stutkoor, which is now taking part in the exchange project of the community art lab for the Treaty of Utrecht celebrations in 2013.
Swan song Tristan Keuris in Friday at Vredenburg
Since the broadcasting series Vredenburg Friday started six years ago, it has managed to attract an ever-expanding audience. This despite the initially rather inhospitable emergency location on the A2 motorway, whose curse name 'Red Box' has since become a nickname for audiences and musicians alike.
DUS retains grant, leadership leaves
The Netherlands' most remarkable company when it comes to handling grant money has been saved. The Theatre newspaper reports that the central government has agreed to the new adjusted budget, which had to be prepared after earlier this year a loss of over 2 million euros had arisen. So the company keeps the one and a half million euros and artistic director Jos Thie and his business partner Jelle Snijder are chased out of the city with pitch and feathers, where they can join the Supervisory Board that had already turned a little too blind eye. After all, putting in an overpriced production to make up for the deficit from an earlier run of that same overpriced production: no entrepreneur would ever allow that.
If you don't have Twitter in Egypt. Community Arts 'Mahatat' works from the bottom up. #vvu
The government has made little effort in recent decades to create a cultural scene getting off the ground. There are no workspaces. No galleries. Only a very large library and a "cultural palace". Both of which opened only five years ago. There are also a few small independent initiatives. In public spaces.
Art: alternative to mistrust and violence in Guatemala. #vvu
Theatre-maker Anouk de Bruijn (32) has been to Guatemala seven times since 1999. For the Treaty of Utrecht, she entered into an exchange project with the Guatemalan group Caja Lúdica. Together, they are committed to giving people a positive experience through art. Their project 'Hidden War' is about the lives of young people in Guatemala.
'I am here': talking about the now during film class with the ISK #vvu
Documentary filmmaker Femke Stroomer and Sanne Sprenger will make two films in the coming year with two classes of the International Switching Class (ISK) entitled I am here. Part two of a report on this Treaty of Utrecht Community Arts Project.
NFF 2012: première van George Sluizers onvoltooid-voltooide Dark Blood
Misschien waren de verwachtingen bij de première van George Sluizers negentien jaar geleden opgenomen, en nu alsnog voltooide Dark Blood gewoon te hoog gespannen. Want natuurlijk is het geheel terecht dat het Nederlands Film Festival de gelegenheid heeft aangegrepen voor een mooi retrospectief van Sluizer, een van Nederlands’ meest vooraanstaande filmmakers met de wereld als werkterrein. Maker van de bloedstollende…
#NFF Opening film Nono sings away from dull realism
What a festive opening film it was! The Dutch Film Festival's choice of Nono, the zigzag child had of course to do with the fact that Dutch family films will be specially put in the festival spotlight this year. But even apart from that theme, it was an unmissable kick-off. After all, we may like to grumble that the weather is not...
VARA honours Barbara Strozzi, tone poet at lonely level
No fewer than eight collections of arias, cantatas, duets and sacred works were published by Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677). She enjoyed great prestige in the Accademia degli unisoni founded by her father, and lived off her compositions.
Culture Council knew about 'Hole of DUS'
Theatre company the Utrecht Games, city company of the Netherlands' fourth largest city, is on the brink of bankruptcy. It was recently revealed that the company led by artistic and business director Jos Thie has a deficit of €2.1 million. Correspondence that has since surfaced shows that it was already clear in May this year that the problems were getting out of hand. That was a month after the Utrecht subsidy advisory committee issued its laudatory opinion, and a few weeks before the Council for Culture issued its very thrifty advice.