criticism
Peter Eötvös writes DoReMi for violinist Midori
For years he was a conductor who also composed, but after operas such as Le balcon and Angels in America Hungarian Peter Eötvös (1944) is now a composer who also conducts. On Friday 21 February, he leads the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn in the Dutch premiere of his Violin Concerto No 2, DoReMi, which he composed in 2012 for Japanese violinist Midori. - I spoke to him last week.
L.A. Dance project at @hollandfestival: falling in love with dance, if only for an evening
Benjamin Millepied is a glamour boy who conquers everything in his path: from actress Natalie Portman to the Paris Opera ballet. In reality, after the premiere in Amsterdam, the Frenchman looks like a
Future of opera or soporific experience?
Which Africa will the Holland Festival bring to our country?
Rokia Traoré, Dieudonné Niangouna, Brett Bailey, Compagnie La Baraka by choreographer Abou Lagraa, El Gusto with Kashba Blues: there is a lot of Africa in the Holland Festival 2013. Performances that
Paradiso full of dance energy at I Like To Watch Too
I Like To Watch Too: abundance of performances shows that dance and performance are powerfully connected to modern society. The dance steps rain down on you even before you have entered Paradiso. Tim Boerlijst tap-dances on the pavement. This infectious welcome immediately draws visitors into the atmosphere of 'I Like To Watch Too'. This festival showcases dance and performance from...
Theodor Holman seeks new frontiers
At the request of Amsterdam debate centre De Balie, Parool and Groene Amsterdammer columnist Theodor Holman wrote a play about a conversation between Anders Breivik and Geert Wilders. In an interview with Joost Niemöller of the opinion blog 'De Dagelijkse Standaard', the presenter and writer explained that he admires Breivik's analysis of the situation in Europe, which he also believes...
News from the national culture front
Positive news to start with: in The Hague, the municipality is doubling photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn's contribution to his youth culture fund Haagse Bluf by €75,000. Corbijn explicitly told the fund not to interfere in the subsidised cultural sector. So compensation for the cuts need not be expected. In Arnhem, the alderman is satisfied with the...
Science shows: the story accompanying a work of art is more important than the art itself
It has finally been scientifically proven: a work of art does not stand alone. A work of art is only truly appreciated when the viewer is told that it is real art. British professor Martin Kemp conducted research with brain scans at Oxford University and provided proof that the way we look at art is "completely irrational". The research...
Benefit Giving Act, cultural budgets, Brabant, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Goes, Utrecht et al.
Tax benefits to be gained this year (...) With effect from 2012, under the new Giving Act, there is an additional tax facility for donations (incidental or via periodic donations) to charitable institutions (non-profit organisations) designated as cultural institutions. Those cultural donations may be multiplied by a factor of 125 per cent for the gift deduction. This...
Culture day: not a penny for Oriëntalis, no brake on Amsterdam cutbacks and Vlissinger library unsaleable
PVV provincial councillor Faber earlier this year on the former Biblical Museum, now Orientalis: "I don't need 20 million euros to talk to a Muslim. Nor to talk to a Jew or Christian for that matter. The PVV already hates subsidies, but if it has anything to do with Islam we won't give anything." State secretary gives museum park...
Crowdsourcing: Urgent help sought on complex legal document from ministry on Netherlands Music Institute
We have received an initial response from the ministry to an objection from an institution to be cut away. In this case, the Netherlands Music Institute. Ministry products and services officer, appropriately named Drs Spijker, dismisses the objection, but we have some questions about the precise legal hedging of the whole thing. And we ourselves, of course, are...
Distress call for theatre school Roosendaal at last minute, arts venue Veenendaal scrapped Discount news from all regions
(...) The Youth Theatre School Roosendaal received a project subsidy of 36,779 euros from the municipality in 2010 and 2011. The school also fulfils a regional function. Forty per cent of its 330 pupils come from the surrounding villages. The proposal is to end the subsidy from 1 January. It was only this week that this apparently dawned on Hofplein's management. Which immediately started a...
New Culture Council president? 'Van Klink creates a crisis himself so he can then solve it'
Pim van Klink is his name. He has been popping up everywhere lately. Especially when the malicious subsidy orientation of the cultural sector needs to be pointed out, every medium calls Van Klink first. Last week, he once again threw his hobbyhorse into the henhouse in the NRC and was invited to join Buitenhof. And according to our trench-coat-clad...
'There are provinces where you can vote VVD or CDA just fine'; new website gives voting tips to art lovers
It looked like a party. Coffee and flan, a Maastricht song, brass band music and a speech by Prince Carnival. Optimism surrounded the launch of the website nadeschreeuwnudestem.nl on 21 February. Surely the cry for culture in November was mainly a voice of dissent. Now there is a chance to take forward-looking action. 'Mobilise everyone you know to join the March 2...
US grantmaker wants an art world with more creativity and less money
Now in terms of tax money, they already spend hardly anything on the arts, in America. But many think even that is too much. Earlier, we reported on Facebook and Twitter about Republican America's call to abolish subsidies altogether. Meanwhile, the president of the National American Arts Fund NAE (National Endowment of the Arts) has taken a bat...
Arts budget debated in second chamber: hardly any discussion on 200 million cut to performing arts
We were at a debate day in The Hague that was as inconspicuous as it was historic on 13 December 2010: it was about the budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the (first?) Rutte government, and that was the budget in which, at the request of the supporting party PVV, the amount to be cut in the arts budget was set at 200 million, with heritage and museums having to...
Culture Council threatens to pronounce 'unacceptable' on cabinet plans with arts and media
"It cannot be ruled out that previous choices made by the cabinet, such as on the VAT increase and the sharp cut in the Music Centre of the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation, together with the announced cuts will cause irreparable damage to the cultural sector." Of course, even though Halbe Zijlstra has thankfully banned the term "Leftist Hobby" when it comes to culture, the distinguished gentlemen...
Order of Tax Advisers severely criticises VAT increase for performing arts: 'theatres will be in exceptional position'
The Rutte government is defending the VAT increase on admission tickets to theatres and concerts, claiming that it will straighten out an exception for the arts. However, this does not appear to be true, according to a response from the Order of Tax Advisers to the proposal. "The Bar Association additionally points out that the explanatory memorandum notes that for the performing arts on...
Prize of (Theatre) Criticism 2010 to musical workshop M-Lab
M-Lab Just as it was announced that the musical production house M-Lab is in financial distress, a helping hand comes from Dutch theatre critics. Indeed, the annual Prize of Criticism goes to the laboratory that produces musicals that almost always matter. We quote the jury report:A laboratory is not just for somewhat unworldly scientists who work on the square millimetre a... You....
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