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Leidsche Rijn

Illustration Mart Veldhuis

From start: Andermans schuld - Art project on debt by NUT in collaboration with Mart Veldhuis, De Buurtwerkkamer and Poverty Coalition Utrecht

The NUT (Nieuw Utrechts Toneel) presents, in collaboration with illustrator Mart Veldhuis, Andermans schuld: a social project at the intersection of visual art, podcast & language aimed at making the world of debt visible. From autumn 2023, various artists will engage with people with debt, a debt story or people working in the world of debt. The... 

The NUT delivers splendour with Never Work Again.

On the day that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the world's Facebook, announced his launch to the 'Metaversum', in order to trounce his collegatechies Bezos, Musk and Branson, who had only had a little sniff of the Universe, I attended the performance 'Never work again' by the Nieuw Utrechts Toneel in Utrecht Leidsche Rijn. In these times of lockdown and... 

Greg Nottrot offers vision of a new future for theatre at the time of Corona with 'Graves'

Ok, the Mauerpark in the real Berlin is more grubby, but what they call the Berlinplein in Utrecht's new Leidsche Rijn centre has something in common with it. Of course, a frayed edge organised by the local government is a bit suspicious, with a megabios as its biggest attraction, but property developers, the biggest abusers of artistic frayed edges, can't do much else on... 

'It's important for Shai to make something again.' Ka Yan Tang and Shailesh Bahoran on Illusionary Rockaz Company in times of Corona

Illusionary Rockaz Company was due to release a new work by Shailesh Bahoran this spring. A new production for the first time in two years, after a time in which the Utrecht-based choreographer was constantly winning awards. And then Corona broke out. For Shai, reason to pause for a while: 'For Shakti, the performance that is coming up now, we have to... 

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

There has been quite a bit going on about borders, lately. That is what authors Floor Leene and Greg Nottrot have made a performance 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,... 

Rainer Hofmann (SPRING): 'After the populist attack from the right, the performing arts now face an attack from the left.'

Thursday 17 May opens SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht with, among others, Sic Transit Gloria Mundi by Dries Verhoeven and to come (extended) by Mette Ingvartsen. Over ten days, over twenty-five international dance and theatre productions, installations and performance works will be on show in public spaces and urban environments. A week earlier, festival director Rainer Hofmann looks relaxed. 'Until now... 

Beatles tour bus (replica) Photo: Chris Samson CC.BY 2.0

You had one chance to sustainably improve arts subsidies

The decision will be official in mid-September, but behind the scenes it has already been made. The Netherlands will have a very small basic cultural infrastructure for the performing arts, and a very large fund that anyone who wants to make theatre, dance, mime or music must apply to. I asked around a bit recently, and so that's what it's going to be. That way, politicians can't... 

No man can escape Nottrots Thundering Time. (Theatre with built-in escaperoom)

'Can I ask you: do you know what time is?' Greg Nottrot's question cannot be straightforward, as I am the only spectator. MIjn spot is uncomfortable: a chair sinking into fresh gravel on the curious Utrecht plain christened 'Berlinplein' by city developers. I witness an early rehearsal of De Denderende Tijd. In that... 

Ballet dancer Andrew Greenwood: 'Healthcare needs dance'

'What is the relevance of dance?' Since the The Relevance of Dance conference in March 2016, this question has been haunting my mind. Above all, I want to know why more people should dance. Therefore, I decide to put the question to inspiring and progressive dance teachers. The second one I question is Andrew Greenwood, who six months ago... 

Programmer to talk: Astrid in 't Veld's dream season

When you go to a concert, you think about the music, the ensemble, the soloist and/or the conductor. Maybe you look up something about the composer but you never think about the programmer who made the concert possible. Astrid in 't Veld is someone who thinks about the range of concerts on offer years in advance in order to help you with... 

Back, to The Cherry Garden 2 - ©Willem Popelier

Nottrot's Cherry Garden: fascinating evening of philosophy on Greek cottage

What is a memory worth? A first kiss, for example: how much poorer are you if it is forgotten? In hard euros. Such questions Greg Nottrot likes to ask his audience, and we, his grateful listeners, gladly join in his money thought experiments. The man who, with Oscar Kocken, came up with the revolutionary concept of the live talk show Order of the Day, now makes,... 

Piet Piryns: 'TivoliVredenburg is main character of The Night of Poetry'

It has been eagerly awaited for weeks: the Night of Poetry. For the thirty-fourth time next month, poets and audience gather around the stage for a night of verses and music. Regular presenter Piet Piryns, now fused with the event, looks back and ahead. "There's too much dying going on," thinks Piet 

Trench warfare between the Castellums of Utrecht and Alphen?

Today we reported on the opening in Utrecht Leidsche Rijn of the cultural park Castellum Hoge Woerd. In that Castellum is a new theatre: Podium Hoge Woerd. Explicitly, the theatre is not called Castellum. After all, there is already a Theatre Castellum in Alphen aan de Rijn that is 10 years old. Doesn't that bite? Yes, they do bite. Because the first visitors for... 

Castellum culture park in Leidsche Rijn opens doors

It was world news in 1997. In one of the first building sites of Vinex district Leidsche Rijn, archaeologists found remains of a Roman boundary line, walls of forts, a cargo ship and all kinds of utensils. Digging it up and building houses was no longer an option. In 2007, it was decided to build a cultural park: a castellum. A modern version of a Roman fort bringing together various functions.... 

New Utrecht cathedral consecrated with local residents singing

Cathedrals are 'in' Utrecht has a thing for cathedrals. The Dom was once a cathedral, but since the Reformation stormed its way through the Roman Catholic heritage, the real cathedral with the archbishop's chair is now a few hundred metres away. In the early 1990s, theatre-maker Aram Adriaanse renamed the former stables of the veterinary faculty 'Horse Cathedral',... 

Greg Nottrot, Floor Leene and Christina Coridou in The Secret at Castellum Hoge Woerd

Unique Secret to be seen in Leidsche Rijn, but be quick

The fastest, and most beautiful, way to cycle through Leidsche Rijn is along the Groenedijk, and then all the way to the end. Pedalling 20 minutes from Utrecht Central Station, there recently, and for 2000 years, lies Castellum Hoge Woerd. It is a newly built idea of a Roman fort that guarded the ancient border of the Roman Empire here, along... 

Free money from the bank? Why some get itchy about the Guarantee Fund

Last week, the Metaalkathedraal was celebrating. This 'creative breeding ground' in the picturesque no man's land between Utrecht and Leidsche Rijn can, thanks to a loan from a bank, grow into something that might become great fun for the neighbourhood, but also for people on the other side of town. The Metal Cathedral is an initiative of two artists. They... 

Requiem for the Red Box

After seven concert seasons, the broadcasting series 'The Friday of Vredenburg' says goodbye to emergency venue Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn, better known as 'The Red Box'. From September, the concerts will again take place in the Great Hall of the otherwise brand-new TivoliVredenburg, restored to its former glory. The concert on 6 June will feature the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor conducted by Antony Hermus. They will play music by Beethoven, Richard Strauss and a gl...

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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.

Einojuhani Rautavaara makes flute dance on the wind

Tonight in Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra plays the Flute Concerto Dances with the Winds by Einojuhani Rautavaara. Originally, Peter Schat's Spring Concert was scheduled, but soloist Jacques Zoon chose to swap it for the Finnish composer's piece.

Son said: 'Peter Schat wrote his flute concerto for me in 1993 but after the premiere he was not happy with it and made a new version of it. He was happy with the performance though, maa...

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Music school @uckutrecht spots trend: parents invest more in music education

Despite the crisis, parents invest eagerly and heavily in their offspring's musical development. This is the finding of the Utrecht Centre for the Arts (UCK). Their talent development programmes are running well. "Parents are now more consciously choosing to spend money on this than ever before. They also come along to lessons more often and let their children start at an increasingly younger age," says cello teacher Floris Dercksen.

Growth
Last Friday, Hart van Nederland broadcast an item on the sc...

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Vredenburg Friday in 'Red Box' for one more season

When Muziekcentrum Vredenburg closed its doors for an ambitious renovation in 2007, the symphonic concerts were moved from the centre of Utrecht to the emergency location Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn on the A2 motorway. The broadcasting series 'De Vrijdag van Vredenburg', created two years earlier, moved along to this temporary accommodation, which was soon renamed 'Red Box'. Against all odds, programmer Astrid in 't Veld managed to develop the fledgling concert series there into a public...

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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... 

Swan song Tristan Keuris in Friday at Vredenburg

Since the Vredenburg broadcasting series The Friday began six years ago, it has managed to attract an ever-expanding audience. This despite the initially rather inhospitable emergency location on the A2, whose curse name 'Red Box' has since become a nickname for audiences and musicians alike. No wonder, as acoustics and accessibility have improved considerably, while the foyer can now be called downright cosy. What's more, programmer Astrid in 't Veld weaves every y...

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Ifigeneia had to die, according to the reconstruction by the jubilee Theatre Group Alum

Poster, with photo by Sanne Peper and design by Hollandse Meesters "That looks like a book series!" spoke my wife with some horror on seeing the cover of "The Revenge of Iphigeneia". And yes, it has to be said: in book format, the poster of Theatre Group Alum's latest theatre production is a bit too much of a stretch. From the A0 poster, it had... 

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