Includes Gaudeamus Music Week, Kinderdijk in floodlight, Ballet: Celebrating Rudi van Dantzig, Contemporary Music: Tribute to Reinbert de Leeuw.

1 -7 September

Classical: Gaudeamus Music Week

For the full programme, see www.mcn.nl.
Various locations, times and prices.

Think of it as posing a radical revision to the idea of World Music.  For the Gaudeamus Music Week - Amsterdam’s esteemed festival of younger composers, now in its 62nd annual edition – brings together works created within the traditions of Western art-music (albeit sometimes at its furthest extreme), and it brings them together from just about everywhere.  The Netherlands, Uzbekistan, Korea, Argentina, Finland, Japan, Greece, Czechia – more than 52 countries will be represented by recently-written pieces for instrumental, electronic and/or vocal performers.  Some will compete for a 4,550 Euro prize, some will be world premiers, all have been selected for inherent merit.  And with nearly two-dozen concerts, several sound installations and the rambunctious “Night of The Unexpected” on Friday at the Paradiso, there will surely be something to embellish your world. (Steve Schneider) 

1 -5 September 

Kinderdijk in floodlight
See the windmills at Kinderdijk are lit up in floodlights after sunset: "...another sweet treat to witness the landscape as summer slips away and autumn approaches,"  says Susan Tracy in her feature on Kinderdijk 'Power in the wind'.

 Photo: Kinderdijk at Sunrise:   Copyright: CWMRO Weather Community Forums 

Thursday September 4 (also 6,7,10,11,13,14,17 and 18 September )
Ballet: Celebrating Rudi van Dantzig

Muziektheater, 20:15h, E37-E15.
An unstoppable innovator who forever honored classical technique, Rudi van Dantzig was Artistic Director for The National Ballet through the 1970s and ‘80s, extending Dutch dance’s palette into topical, political and social realms – including the homoerotic – never before seen.  To mark his 75th birthday, the company is dedicating September to reviving three of van Dantzig’s signature works – including the geometric “Ginastera” (with music by South American composer Alberto Ginastera) and “Voorbij Gegaan” (a softly-speaking pas de deux set to Chopin) – alongside his longtime colleague Toer van Schayk’s Beethoven-derived “Seventh Symphony.”  It’s a crash course in how ballet crashed into modern movement in Holland – and one that should still have the capacity to startle.  (Steve Schneider).

Photo credits:
Universumaffiche (top left): by Gertjan Evenhuis
Monument  (bottom left): (Copyright) by Deen van Meer 

 

 Monday 8 September
Contemporary Music: Tribute to Reinbert de Leeuw

Muziekgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.30h, E25.

For over thirty years, Reinbert de Leeuw has been the lightning rod, spark plug, taskmaster and whipping boy for contemporary music in The Netherlands, composing, accompanying, proselytizing and conducting every band in the land.  Tonight marks de Leeuw’s 70th birthday, and this large-scale tribute will likely be as rich and mysterious as much of the music that the maestro has championed.  No one’s saying what will be played, or who’ll be playing it, but all signs point to the concert offering a varied selection of chamber and vocal music by leading contemporary practitioners – including the recently united Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble – from Holland and elsewhere.  Sure, this pays deference to the past, but it will also show us where modern Dutch music is going.  (Steve Schneider) 

Photo credit: Reinbert de Leeuw: by Co Broerse 

Until 26 October
Art exhibition: Black is Beautiful

De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
www.nieuwekerk.nl/nl/index.htm

'Black is Beautiful, Rubens to Dumas' includes a special study in oils by Rubens, an intimate drawing by Rembrandt and paintings by Karel Appel and Marlene Dumas. It shows the fascination for black people through the ages.

The exhibition was put together after years of study by Guest Curator Esther Schreuder. Walking through the Rijksmuseum with Iris Kensmill one day, she noticed that Kensmill was focussing on the images of black people and realised no study was ever carried out specifically into this subject.

It consists of three parts: The Old World, the New World and the Modern World. The main themes are: the black king, strong men, strong women, Africa, South America and slavery, and portraits.

 For more information read Black was always beautiful by Patrick Dorder.

Through October
An artist's view of climate change

It's a good example of the way nature can combine with a fragment of our cultural inheritance. From now until the end of October, there's even a scenic art route in this Waterloopbos (Waterway through the woods). Read more...

Photo: Pedro Marzoratie, Water heads

Check out the Expatica calendar for our full listing of new events.

Our permanent event listings remain under category title (such as Tours and workshops, Arthouse movies, Parties in Amsterdam) on the What's on channel.

[Copyright Expatica 2008]