This week, Outside the World, the bulky, ambitious debut novel by Karl Ove Knausgård (51), was published for the first time in Dutch translation. A book about themes such as fear and shame, feelings that torment the Norwegian writer himself.
'The story of Anders' (8+) is the new Dance Theatre AYA performance created by Ryan Djojokarso, new resident choreographer with the company. A performance full of dance, absurd humour and crazy twists. Sometimes you just have to look at things differently.
The 40th edition of the Netherlands Film Festival pushes the boundaries. Corona makes everything go differently. Now in more than 100 theatres across the country, and also online. For groundbreaking work, there is the sixth instalment of the Directors' Forum.
Under the leadership of Viktorien van Hulst, Boulevard Theatre Festival has grown into a regionally rooted festival of national importance. Each year, Boulevard manages to strike a smart balance between entertainment with substance and joyful innovation, with a keen eye on inclusivity.
The scope of the stories that stand a chance of winning the Thea Beckman Prize awarded by the Archeon today is wide. The five contenders on what Thea Beckman's work and nomination for the prize mean to them.
As this is D66 culture minister Van Engelshoven's presumably last budget year, the press release once again emphasises that a total of 95 million extra has now come into the culture budget during her tenure. It is too early to draw far-reaching conclusions.
The VVD will not give away Mark Rutte's latest crown jewel, the arts subsidy cut, for free. The latest argument: suction effect.
This year's Charlotte Köhler Prize, a triennial award for writers of literary works, has been awarded to Manon Uphoff (1962). Uphoff receives the €15,000 prize for her entire oeuvre and in particular for the novel Vallen is als vliegen (2019), which is rooted in reality.
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...
Over seven years ago, I started as house poet at Sven Ratzke's Late Night Show in Utrecht's Blue Hall. It was a special time. Not for Sven, who probably came into the world singing and wearing designer clothes through a curtain of peacock feathers and imitation ermine fur. For him, the sultry, permanently ramming sold-out nightclub show was cut-and-dried. For...
In recent days, tentative proposals for a new system to fund the arts in the Netherlands have appeared in various places. Tricky pieces, and so far not attesting to very much incisiveness. In Het Parool, a number of prominent figures, including Tinkebel and advertising man Kessels, think that we should think less in pigeonholes, and that, besides quality, we should also...
Hannes Minnaar falls head over heels. His #corona tour with Bach's Goldberg Variations starts on 1 July, exactly the day when the maximum number of concert visitors is released. - Provided 1.5 metres distance et cetera. Although the Grote Kerk in Zwolle can admit considerably more than 100 people, the concert is already completely sold out. Those lucky enough to get a...
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to receive the Dutch Music Prize here today. Not only all the people who have helped me during the years of my trajectory and given me so much inspiration and motivation, but also everyone who has supported me from an early age in my...
A few months ago, I reported via this site that Eurovision Song Contest wanted an orchestra to perform, for less than no money. The post, including follow-ups, was read just under a hundred thousand times, so can be assumed somewhat familiar. Yesterday, I received a press release from a rather expensive public relations agency, which the culture world took action on...
Shortly after Alfred Birney was awarded the Libris Literature Prize in 2017 for The Interpreter of Java, he ended up in hospital with a heart attack. In his new novel On Hold, Birney's alter ego Alan Noland is in hospital waiting for open-heart surgery. He was just starting to feel fit again after his five-way bypass surgery and two years of patching up...
'We would have actually been presented with the award last week at the premiere of Grimm. That was our big production this season that was to play 30 times. But after the second rehearsal, we were able to stop. It seriously looks like we won't be seen in theatres this year. When in autumn the...
The Cabinet is allocating an extra three hundred million euros to cushion the damage of the corona crisis in the cultural and creative sector. This is an important step in the right direction and will actually help a number of institutions get over the bridge. By doing so, the cabinet is also sending a signal: that culture matters. Moreover, Rutte and his...
Machteld Kooij sees at least three or four people she has trained pass by every night on the news or the big talk shows. She calls herself The Secret Weapon of Hilversum and now there is also a book: The Monster with the Golden Eyes. We all have to deal with it from time to time: stage fright. And Machteld Kooij has excellent tips ...
"We are hopeful," is the reply when I speak to a colleague just before the start of the Berlin film festival. For curious as to how the choice of Carlo Chatrian as the new artistic director has fallen among German critics. Chatrian, previously director of the leading arthouse festival in Locarno, lies well, I understand. Whether this 70th Berlinale will see all that new momentum...
Becoming a writer without being able to use your fingers to type - Bianca Mastenbroek (44) no longer turns her hand to it. Last year, she won the Thea Beckman Prize for her historical novel Hendrick, the Dutch Indian. Looking back on a jubilee year: 'This prize is the crowning glory of my work'. For anyone who has yet to read your book Hendrick, de Hollandsche Indiaan,...
'When I unexpectedly had to conduct the "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem Verdi, I felt how raw and impactful music could be. I knew immediately: I can no longer run away from music.' Elim Chan is moving like a rocket and will make her debut with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra on 17 January. In 2014, Elim Chan (Hong Kong, 1986) was the first female...
With red cheeks, I hang up the phone a little bewildered. Just now I had a telephone appointment that took a completely different turn. I had a brief conversation with a theatre programmer who is still unknown to me. She unfortunately told me not to programme anything with our impresario, because there was really no need for artistic performances in her city. This lady stated that her...
As an intro, the percussionist of orchestra the prize of honour played a cadenza of air beats. When he unexpectedly gave a cutting blow on his snare drum, everyone was startled. Thus, with Bewegung ohne Bewegung for cello and ensemble by Jan van de Putte, opened the anniversary concert of the ensemble founded in 1979 by Wim Boerman. Last year,...
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...
'Anna Korsun stood head and shoulders above her peers with her surprising, introspective and communicative music.' I wrote that in 2014, when she won the Gaudeamus Award. 'We are definitely going to hear more from her,' I concluded, and since then the Ukrainian has more than fulfilled that promise. She has made a name for herself as a composer, pianist, vocalist, conductor and (co-)organiser of concert series....
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