Over het IJ and Amsterdam Roots: Location Theatre and World Music Festivals

Two festivals held their openings earlier this evening in Amsterdam.

Over het IJ Festival features location theatre, with more than twenty productions showing in outdoor locations over the next eleven days, until 14 July. Most of the emerging artists and practitioners are Dutch; there are productions concerning the French Revolution and the Russian poet Boris Rhyzy; and many are rooted in music theatre, drawing upon a diversity of music from classical to dance. Some of the performances are interactive, engaging the audience and utilising facets and tools of social media; others are produced especially for schoolchildren.

The festival is based at the NDSM shipyard to the north-west of the centre, across the IJ lake, where there will be food and drink for attendees; but performances are located elsewhere too – on both banks of the IJ, including at Amsterdam Centraal. Productions range in length from 15 to 120 minutes, with tickets priced from €3 to €22.50. The website for Over het IJ is at: http://www.overhetij.nl/en/

Amsterdam Roots Festival is now into its 16th edition. The festival hosts musicians from around the world for four days across five locations in Amsterdam, culminating in Roots Open Air, which takes place on Sunday in Oosterpark. The festival was begun by the Tuareg guitarist Bombino, from Niger, who performed earlier tonight at the Melkweg. The Cumbia All Stars will play at the same venue tomorrow evening; with André Rio from Brazil at the Muziekgebouw on Saturday. Roots Open Air will commence on Sunday from 1 pm, with eighteen acts playing across several stages until 10 pm.

Rokia Traoré headlines this edition of the festival – perhaps fresh, possibly tired from her recent performances in Desdemona as part of the Holland Festival, and last weekend at Glastonbury – and will feature on Sunday from 7.30 pm. In addition to the music, there will be dance workshops, a range of activities for children, and an extensive food market across Oosterpark. Tickets for Roots Open Air cost just €7.50 for the day; full information relating to the festival can be found at: http://amsterdamroots.nl/

Christian Marclay at the Holland Festival

Christian Marclay, the Swiss-American collagist and composer, is in Amsterdam to perform his latest work, Everyday. With Marclay utilising the turntables and electronics with which he made his name – Marclay has a claim to being the first musician to improvise with records and turntables – Everyday features him performing alongside his jazz ensemble, comprising Steve Beresford on piano, John Butcher on saxophone, Alan Tomlinson on trombone, and Mark Sanders on percussion. With a montage of hundreds of found film clips projected, conjoined, and narrowed onto a big screen, these images serve as a score for the musicians, who read and interpret them for their performance through a series of movements and audio-visual sequences. Everyday will be performed tomorrow evening at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, as part of the Holland Festival.

Marclay’s previous work, The Clock, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale 2011. Tonight, as a sort of preface to Everyday, EYE (the Dutch Film Institute) and the Holland Festival show three of Marclay’s earlier projects, all of which also draw upon found footage, film and improvised music.

The Bell and the Glass (2003) brings together the Liberty Bell, the symbol of American independence located in Philadelphia, and Marcel Duchamp’s The Large Glass (also called The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even), the artwork which he completed in 1923, and which is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. With video relating to these two pieces projected onto two screens, musicians improvise regarding the videos as a score. In Screen Play (2005), black-and-white footage provides the background for coloured, musically-inspired computer-animation. Shuffle (2007) is a sort of musical card game which suggests the musicality of everyday life, using photographs which imply the elements of musical notation to spur improvisation. For the performance at EYE, the MAZE ensemble will play to Marclay’s visuals.

Everyday will feature at the Muziekgebouw tomorrow at 8.30 pm. The three works by Marclay at EYE will be shown and performed from 8.30 pm this evening; with Marclay being interviewed in the foyer from 7.30 pm. More information is here and here.

Brooklyn to Berlin: Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop and Lee Ranaldo

The string ensemble Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop will play with guitarist Lee Ranaldo, of Sonic Youth, for a one-off performance this evening as part of the Holland Festival. At the Muziekgebouw, and entitled ‘Brooklyn to Berlin’, Ranaldo will interweave with the ensemble to perform Charles Avison’s Concerto grosso nr. 3, d-moll (1744), Sebastian Claren’s Licht a capella (2011), Julia Wolfe’s Fuel (2007), and a new composition of his own.

Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop are a young ensemble based in Berlin, who have frequently collaborated with artists from other disciplines in an endeavour to experiment with the way in which string ensembles appear on stage. They often play drawing upon aspects of performance art, and utilising props and other visuals. As the name suggests, all members of the ensemble also operate as soloists. Claren, a German composer and musicologist, wrote Licht a capella especially for the Kaleidoskop.

Ranaldo will play guitar and sing in performing the world premiere of his new score, written in the tradition of the concerto grosso – a Baroque form of music which involves the interplay of material between full orchestral groups and smaller groups of soloists. The English composer Charles Avison’s piece will serve to complement and as a counterpoint to Ranaldo’s composition.

The concert will begin at 8.30 pm. It will be preceded from 7.45 pm with an introduction by Jacqueline Oskamp; and there will be the opportunity after the performance to meet the artists. More information is at: http://www.hollandfestival.nl/en/program/2013/brooklyn-to-berlin/

Desdemona: Music Theatre by Toni Morrison, Peter Sellars, and Rokia Traoré

Desdemona, a music theatre production based on Shakespeare’s Othello, will open tonight in Amsterdam at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.

Premiering in Vienna in May 2011, before touring London, New York, and Berkeley, Desdemona is borne of a collaboration between the novelist Toni Morrison and the director Peter Sellars, noted for his boldly contemporary stagings of operas and plays. After Sellars produced a four-hour-long, futuristic version of Othello in 2009, to mixed reviews, he and Morrison began discussing a response to Shakespeare’s tragedy. Morrison – whose first novel, The Bluest Eye, appeared in 1970; and who has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, in 1988 for Beloved, and the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1993 – wrote a text which gives the perspective of Desdemona, Othello’s wife, from beyond the grave, after she has been suffocated by her husband.

Desdemona appears in intimate dialogue with Barbary – an extension of the character of Barbara in Shakespeare’s play, who is mentioned briefly in Act 4 Scene 3 as Desdemona’s nursemaid. The role of Barbary is performed by the Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré, who has won significant acclaim for her stage presence and vocal range.

Desdemona will show at the Muziekgebouw from 8.30 pm over the next three evenings, as part of the Holland Festival. More information and tickets are here: http://www.hollandfestival.nl/en/program/2013/desdemona/

Holland Festival 2013

The Holland Festival has, since 1947, served as a premier international event for the performing arts. With a focus on theatre, music theatre, dance, opera, and music, the festival – under artistic director Pierre Audi since 2005 – hosts both established and experimental artists in Amsterdam’s major cultural venues; centring on the Stadsschouwburg, the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, and the Frascati theatre, and also including the Bimhuis, Concertgebouw, Muziektheater, Koninklijk Theater Carré, and Westergasfabriek, with a couple of events even taking place in the Stedelijk and the Rijksmuseum. Fifty productions will show in over a hundred performances throughout the month of June.

The festival will commence tonight with an opera by Luca Francesconi entitled Quartett, based on Heiner Müller’s stage version of Les Liaisons dangereuses. Francesconi studied at the Milan Conservatory, and is a student of Stockhausen; his opera premiered in Milan in 2011, and will show at the Westergasfabriek at 8.30 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The festival will continue on with an interview with author David Mitchell; who has collaborated with Michel van der Aa on a new multimedia opera for the festival, titled Sunken Garden. There will be two performances at the Stadsschouwburg by Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project, including a new piece choreographed by Millepied himself. De Nederlandse Opera will partake in seven performances of Wagner’s lengthy comic opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Hildur Guðnadóttir, an Icelandic cellist with a penchant for experimental popular music, will play two pieces at the Bimhuis. Toni Morrison has written a new work for music theatre, entitled Desdemona, based on Shakespeare’s Othello. Toneelgroep Amsterdam will be directed by Thomas Ostermeier, in the director’s first engagement with Chekhov’s The Seagull.

The Berlin string ensemble Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop will be joined in performance by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo. Chinese-born choreographer Shen Wei has produced, with Het Nationale Ballet, a new version of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring – a celebration of that work’s centenary year. A multidisciplinary exhibit by South African director Brett Bailey will utilise the concept of ‘human zoos’ to view the West’s relationship with Africa. The collagist Christian Marclay will show a new work called Everyday, which will comprise a film montage with a soundtrack improvised via turntables and electronics.

The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic will perform four pieces on the theme of light on 21 June, the longest day of the year. A series of free lunchtime concerts will take place in the Rijksmuseum.

Holland Festival 2013’s website, with a full programme of performances and ticketing information, is at: http://www.hollandfestival.nl/en/

Music This Weekend in Amsterdam (17-19.05.13)

Friday

–

Paradiso: Crystal Fighters – 8.30 pm (Great Hall); Celebration – 10 pm (Small Hall)

Melkweg: Tomorrow’s World – 8.30 pm (Old Hall); Craig David – 8.30 pm (The Max); Redevice invites Rush Hour – 11 pm (Old Hall)

Trouw: HIFI & Fifty Weapons – 11 pm

OT301: Knekelhuisdisco invites Bordello a Parigi – 10 pm

OCCII: Alec K. Redfearn & The Eyesores + Wooden Wand + Beginners – 9 pm

Winston: Troy Torino + Drive By Wire – 9 pm

Noorderlicht Cafe: Palenke Soultribe – 10 pm

Muziekgebouw: Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam – 8.15 pm (Great Hall)

Bimhuis: Grant Stewart Quartet – 8.30 pm

North Sea Jazz Club: The Fresh Cuts & Michiel Borstlap – 6 pm

–

Saturday

–

Paradiso: London Calling Festival (Outside Edition) – 2 pm (Tolhuistuin); Tom McRae – 8 pm (De Duif); Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – 8 pm (Small Hall); Atri N’Assouf – 9.45 pm (Small Hall)

Melkweg: Elvis the Concert 2013 (Live) – 8 pm (Old Hall); La Pegatina – 9 pm (The Max)

De Nieuwe Anita: No Ninja Am I – 8 pm

Trouw: James Holden & Warehouse – 11 pm

OT301: Robotika – 11 pm

OCCII: MKM! – 9pm

Ziggo Dome: Zucchero Fornaciari – 8 pm

ArenA Park: Diynamic Festival – 11 am

MC Theater: Christopher Lancaster – 10.15 pm

Winston: Tales + Rectum Raiders – 9 pm

Concertgebouw: New works by Peter Adriaansz and Erik Bosgraaf – 2.15 pm (Great Hall)

Muziekgebouw: The Netherlands Bach Society: ‘A Universal Sorrow’ – 8.15 pm (Great Hall)

Bimhuis: Ralph Alessi/Fred Hersch Duo – 8.30 pm

North Sea Jazz Club: Lisa Stansfield – 9 pm

–

Sunday

–

Paradiso: London Calling Festival (Outside Edition) – 2 pm (Tolhuistuin); OHAF: Rusthuis Paradiso – 10 pm

Melkweg: Yoji & JP – 10 pm (Old Hall); The Age of Love – 11 pm (The Max)

Trouw: Trouw on Sunday – 9 pm

ArenA Park: TIKTAK Eclectic Music Festival – 12 midday

Concertgebouw: Radio Choir with Tanejev and Prokofiev – 11 am (Great Hall)

Muziekgebouw: Metropole Orkest with Joe Lovano – 8.15 pm (Great Hall)

North Sea Jazz Club: Lee Ritenour – 9 pm

Stockhausen’s Mixtur, by musikFabrik at the Muziekgebouw

Mixtur, a composition for orchestra, four sine-wave generators, and four ring modulators, was written by Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1964, and is No. 16 in his list of works. The composition was premiered in Hamburg on 9 November, 1965. In 1967, Stockhausen modified his score for small orchestra: that piece is listed as No. 16 1/2, and was premiered on 23 August in Frankfurt am Main.

Mixtur was one of the earliest compositions to utilise live electronics, and combine them with a traditional orchestra. The duration of the composition is undefined, for it can be played at between forty and sixty beats per minute. More, it can be played both forwards and backwards. Many performances had comprised the piece played first backwards, then forwards; until Stockhausen again modified the score in 2003. This version, No. 16 2/3, specifies five instrumental groups rather than an orchestra; it fixed the composition, with all parts being written out in conventional notation; and it featured the score first played forwards, then backwards.

This evening at the Muziekgebouw, Köln’s Ensemble musikFabrik will play the 1967 version of the score, first forwards, then backwards. Their performance will be followed by the Dutch premiere of German electronic composer Markus Schmickler’s new composition, Kemp Echoes.

The performance will start at 8.15 pm in the Muziekgebouw’s Great Hall. It will be preceded, from 7.15 pm, by a conversation with flutist Helen Bledsoe. More information is here: http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/agenda/Concerten/2056/musikFabrik/De_erfenis_van_Karlheinz_Stockhausen/; with tickets also available via: http://www.lastminuteticketshop.nl/

Piet-Jan van Rossum and the Ives Ensemble at the Muziekgebouw

The Dutch composer Piet-Jan van Rossum has, since 2002, been working on a cycle of compositions inspired by his wife, Annette, and the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti. Written for chamber ensemble, and utilising electronics and street recordings – thereby drawing from the practices of musique concrète – the final pieces of the cycle are to premiere, and the cycle will be performed in full for the first time, this evening at the Muziekgebouw.

The five pieces which comprise the cycle are ‘Annette dans l’atelier’, from 2002, revised in 2005; ‘Annette [1954]’, from 2003; and ‘Annette offrant un bouquet de fleurs’, ‘avec de faux yeux, je dépasse le Sphinx, sans le voir’, and ‘Annette definitivement nue’. The final two pieces will receive their world premiere this evening; whilst ‘Annette offrant un bouquet de fleurs’ premiered in Tokyo last year, but has not yet been performed within the Netherlands.

The Ives Ensemble have accompanied Van Rossum throughout his creation of the cycle, and encouraged its completion for this evening’s performance. They will play from 8.15 pm. More information is at: http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/agenda/Concerten/2055/Ives_Ensemble/Piet_Jan_van_Rossum_en_Alberto_Giacometti/

Here is a teaser courtesy of the Ives Ensemble’s website:

And here is an image of Giacometti’s Tête qui regarde (1929), on display at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum:

The Rest is Noise at the Muziekgebouw

The Rest is Noise – the name presumably drawn from the title of Alex Ross’s 2007 book on twentieth century classical music – at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ is a series of concerts featuring emerging, experimentally-minded musical artists, from a range of popular, electronical and jazz genres.

Concerts are typically announced at relatively short notice, with performances held in the Muziekgebouw’s Small Hall – an intimate space which seats one hundred, and which provides a permanent home to the Fokker organ (a 31-tone equal-tempered organ created in 1950 by Adriaan Fokker, which is now operated by computer).

Julia Holter and Mike Koldin performed at the series’ inaugural concert last May; artists to have appeared since include Angel Olson and Sun Araw; and Tim Hecker will perform this evening, from 8.30 pm. The Muziekgebouw has recently revealed its schedule for the 2013/14 season; but the nature of the Rest is Noise series means that future performances in the series are yet to be established. Therefore the curious will have to keep informed via http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/agenda/Series/371/The_Rest_is_Noise/; and I will write here about those instances which I find of particular interest.

Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Other Choral Music, This Easter in Amsterdam

With next week Holy Week, and Easter Sunday a week and a half away, Passions and choral music abound in the classical music venues of Amsterdam.

In the period from today until a week on Sunday, Bach’s St Matthew Passion – his setting of chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew – will be performed eight times at the Concertgebouw. Tonight, the Netherlands Bach Society – founded in 1921, the oldest Early Music ensemble in the Netherlands – will perform Bach’s oratorio in a special concert to mark the 125th anniversary of the Concertgebouw. The Netherlands Bach Society will move to Naarden on Sunday, for its traditional series of performances of the St Matthew Passion in Naarden’s Great Church.

The St Matthew Passion will be performed again at the Concertgebouw tomorrow night, in a ‘sing along’ concert, with seats available from as little as €10 if you are of the right age and inclined to sing; on Sunday and Monday evenings by the KCOV Excelsior choir; next Friday by Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam; on Saturday by COV GrootNord; and then twice on Easter Sunday by the Bach Choir of the Netherlands.

Also at the Concertgebouw, on Friday evening, with Stéphane Denève conducting and debuting soloists, and then again on Sunday afternoon, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will perform Frank Martin’s 1948 Passion, Golgotha. Elsewhere, at the Muziekgebouw tomorrow night the Hebrides Ensemble and Synergy Vocals will join to perform James MacMillan’s latest choral piece, Since it was the Day of Preparation. This piece, written for the Hebrides Ensemble and premiered last August in Edinburgh, is a sort of post-Passion, focusing instead on Jesus’ Resurrection. At Westerkerk, the Westerkerk choir will perform next Friday Bach’s other existent completed Passion, the St John Passion.

For more information and tickets:

https://www.concertgebouw.nl/concerten-en-tickets

http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/agenda/

http://www.westerkerk.nl/activiteiten/agenda