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Den Bosch

Suzanna Jansen on Pauper Paradise: 'Poverty still leads to isolation'

The garish signs KEUKENHOF keep on whizzing past café Foolish Business, on a very sticky Tuesday morning. Hordes of tourists throng behind them, ready to spend money on picturesque pictures and unique experiences. My interest today is in the opposite, the desolate 19th century colonies of Drenthe, then called 'Dutch Siberia'. To me, Drenthe is known as ' a cyclist's paradise' but author Suzanna Jansen wrote the 2008 bestseller the P...

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Hieronymus Bosch: five hundred years dead and alive at the same time

Hieronymus Bosch is back. With a special exhibition in Den Bosch - in case anyone has forgotten - and with enormous attention. The exhibition is widely acclaimed and star-studded. It is already being called 'the exhibition of the year'. Newspapers were full of it, documentaries filled the TV screen and the opening was... 

Storioni Festival: champagne bottle whose cork almost pops off

Thursday 21 January sees the start of the ninth edition of the Storioni Festival, dedicated to the five-hundredth anniversary of Hieronymus Bosch's death. Free after his famous triptych Garden of Earthly Delights, the musicians of the Storioni Trio and Frank Veenstra, artistic manager of Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, chose the theme 'Dreams and Demons'. Composer in residence is Poland's Krzysztof Penderecki, who became famous... 

Ursula Mamlok: atonal music with heart

With the death of Pierre Boulez on 5 January, modernism seemingly came to an end, but the two-year-old Ursula Mamlok (1923) is still alive and kicking. Although the German-American Mamlok hopes to turn 93 on 1 February, she is steadily composing.# In 2009, she wrote Aphorisms II for two clarinets, in which, as in all her pieces, she manages to couple atonality with a warm-blooded... 

Five reasons why the Netherlands Reisopera should perform Amahl and the Night Visitors every year

Only Maastricht, Den Bosch and Enschede were able to enjoy Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. Far too little for an opera that has only been seen in our country twice before (in 1988 and 1965) but has everything it takes to win a young audience for the genre ánd is the December opera par excellence. Especially when the mini-opera is so... 

'Without extra money, even successful festivals will fall over'

The Lower House caused serious problems for culture in the Netherlands a few weeks back. In a noble attempt to save a few festivals and a youth theatre, SP, D66, CDA and PvdA caused chaos. They passed a motion instructing our culture minister to still set aside money for a few festivals and an extra... 

In Memoriam: the Basic Cultural Infrastructure (2008-2015)

Apetrots they are, the MPs Jacques Monasch, Jasper van Dijk, Mona Keijzer and Alexander Pechtold. After all, they saved a youth theatre company and managed to add a few festivals to the basic cultural infrastructure of the Netherlands. In addition, they have also already earmarked an amount for some other festivals. Yesterday, the motions from the June debate were put to a vote. Almost... 

Berlin plays Tagfish, poetic documentary theatre about emptiness, and more emptiness

From today, the documentary performance Tagfish tours the Netherlands. The Belgian theatre collective Berlin has been making finely crafted theatre installations since 2004, playing on the border of documentary and fiction, television and theatre, current affairs and eternity. Tagfish is ostensibly about the perils surrounding the redevelopment of a piece of wasteland near Essen. Die Zeche Zollverein already had a monumental... 

Matthijs Rümke (1954 - 2015): inspired and committed theatre talent will not go to waste

'Young people can very well decide for themselves where they want to go or not go. And it just so happens that most of the time it is not to the theatre. So what? That will come naturally. Young people make their own choices, and that more often includes a house party than a play. Dragging them inside is counterproductive. And above all, no compulsory book-list performance,... 

Hans van Beers is no more - another loss for Dutch cultural life

On Tuesday afternoon, 25 August, Hans van Beers (Eindhoven, 1941) passed away. He was an important figure in our cultural life, his curriculum is seemingly endless. Among other things, he was alderman of culture in Den Bosch, co-founder of Pinkpop, chairman of the Mondriaan Fund, interim director of the Stedelijk Museum, director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the VPRO and the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, board member... 

Den Bosch delivered great encounters with @TFBoulevard

It was cold in Den Bosch on Sunday 16 August and it rained as if it were not August but November. Not the ideal weather for the closing night of festival Boulevard. It was, however, an atmospheric setting for some installations and the performance 'Hello fear' that were on my programme. The installations were hidden behind the Mariapavilion (Tramkade's emergency location) and despite the... 

FC Bergman literally and figuratively gives (the) space

the atmosphere It is 30 degrees in Den Bosch. People with headphones on clap for something we, the passers-by, do not see. At a shopping centre, girls with masks roll on the ground. There is commotion everywhere. Festival Boulevard is in full swing and the whole city seems to join in. The terraces are full and the mood is high. I make my way... 

Casual encounters in a sanatorium: @TFBoulevard has a real theme

Theatre festival Boulevard has a theme. This is new, and actually unusual for a large-scale festival like the one in Den Bosch. After all, how do you find so many performances for those claimed 120,000 spectators that are all about that same theme? The solution is simple: you don't have to. You can also attach a theme to a few appealing performances and a single part... 

Which eurosceptic dares to go to Het Zuidelijk Toneel at @TFBoulevard?

  Whether a TED talk catches on is often largely down to the speaker. This global craze of pimped-up powerpoints could become a global craze because these 'talks' are delivered by heart in front of an audience. So they are theatrical things, these TED Talks, and that makes them interesting to watch even on a screen. Lucas De Man, director,... 

Curve Boukje Schweigman

By Boukje Schweigmans Curve to higher consciousness on @TFBoulevard

  Some say there is a tunnel of light you pass through when you die. Could be, there are people with near-death experiences who describe such a thing. Personally, I find the paintings depicting such tunnels of light rather kitschy. Clouds with a scary eye or a man with a beard at the end.... But now sculpture-dance-design artist... 

Learned on @TFBoulevard: Young creators, please, fail big!

  That you wake up at night and there is a full-blooded hipster sitting at the foot of your bed. One of those whose beard has two ragged tips, whose hair is in a messy bun and whose right ear has a tuft of hair bulging out of it. This pretty much sums up my worst nightmare. Well struck, then, by Lisah makes Roozemoes, to... 

awaiting the start of rimini Protokoll

The five of us against the rest of Den Bosch. Renewed Boulevard Theatre Festival opens in style

Festival Boulevard in Den Bosch, which started on 6 August, has a new boss. This woman, Viktorien van Hulst, had a hard time even before the start of her first festival. Someone had suddenly found a tiny asbestos fibre in a drainpipe at the special new festival site on the Bossche Tramkade, a day before the opening, and so had to... 

Bas van den Bosch: 'Even today, it is often said that men express their feelings poorly.'

Klem is the moving story of 11-year-old Paul, whose mother dies just after he refuses to lie with her for a while and runs out of the room. This makes him think he is guilty of her death. Interview with author Bas van den Bosch about his second novel. We are raffling off three copies! Klem The concise novel Klem has similarities with... 

The 5 performances you should definitely see at Theatre Festival Boulevard

From today, it is not Leeuwarden, Amsterdam, Utrecht or The Hague that is our country's cultural capital, but Den Bosch. For eleven days during Theatre Festival Boulevard, there will be more to see in that city than all to follow. Lots of new and unique work for Den Bosch, but also some performances that have already played in other places. Herewith our five recommendations. Have... 

Bussemaker doesn't invest in youth theatre: she cuts a company out permanently

Every company 50,000 euros more. Youth theatre in the Netherlands should be very happy with the letter culture minister Bussemaker sent to the chamber last Monday. After years of squeezing under Halbe Zijlstra, finally more air for the makers. But the investment of 4 tonnes a year turns out to be a cutback. In fact, Bussemaker only gives a gift to eight companies. Company... 

Chapman for president- a film without images.

Is that possible? Picture-less film? Sure, just see-or better-listen to Chapman for President by the Eef van Breen Group on 2 May during LISFE: a cinematic sound project based on a personal story. An encounter with political refugee Chapman gave trumpeter, singer & composer Eef van Breen new eyes, ears and the idea for this film without images.... 

dance Private Odyssey

I never felt so much loneliness and space as with My Private Odyssey

Homer's epic Odyssey tells of Odysseus' journey home. For centuries, the story has roamed the world. Each time it was different people who heard or read it. The story took on new colours, accents, interpretations that Homer could not have imagined. And now there is My Private Odyssey by Club Guy & Roni and tanzmainz. This dance and... 

Four reasons to go to Words & Beyond II: Nan Sul Hun

After the world premiere of Words & Beyond II: Nan Sul Hun by Seung-Won Oh yesterday at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, the audience stood up as one to applaud Slagwerk Den Haag and the soloists. It was therefore a magical performance, which will be repeated at De Doelen in Rotterdam and at Theater aan de... 

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