Highlights

Babar the elephant is one of the most beloved children’s book characters of all time. The book series by French writer and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff has captured the hearts of children all over the world since the first publication in 1931. Composer Francis Poulenc even wrote a classical piece for it! For this concert, well-known children’s book author Mylo Freeman wrote a new beginning to the story of Babar. And it takes us all the way back to the beginning of the world!

Through the beautiful classical piece La création du monde, Ensemble SeaSession takes us back to the earliest days of the Earth, when humans first emerged and gazed in wonder at all the extraordinary animals. Like the little elephant Babar, who ends up in the big city and learns all about how humans live from a kind old lady – and almost becomes one.

This concert is Dutch spoken. You’re welcome to enjoy the music.

Make your own animal mask
In African mythology, masks have magical powers, including animal masks. If you put on an animal mask, there is no longer any difference between humans and animals. Before the concert, you can paint or decorate a mask of a hyena, crocodile, chameleon, buffalo, monkey or an elephant.  We will make a beautiful exhibition of all the masks, which you can admire afterwards. Of course, you can take your mask home afterwards. There will also be free colouring sheets to take home afterwards, designed by Sjeng Schupp. 

Arts & Crafts / Entreehal / 12:30 - 17:00
In the Entreehal, you can once again enjoy arts and crafts in abundance. Prior to the performances, we are also offering free workshops where the audience can learn about the meaning of African (animal) masks. In the workshop, participants will get to work with animal masks: the masks can be painted and decorated with paint, rope, cardboard, paper, cork, leftover materials, etc. Anything goes! After the performance, the masks can be admired in the Entreehal. 

Duration: approx. 45 minutes, starting one hour before the performance.

After the performance in the Main Hall, too, there will be plenty of time for finishing touches. 

Jazz Expres / Piet Heinkade
The Jazz Express will be placed on the Piet Heinkade as part of the 50th anniversary of the BIMHUIS.  
12:30 - 13:15 hrs: Concert 1
15:00 - 15:45 hrs: Concert 2
16:30 - 17:15 hrs: Concert 3

SoundLAB / Atrium Hall (2nd floor) / 13:00 - 17:00 
In SoundLAB you can play with wondrous instruments such as the Dato DUO, Toonpad, Formonium and the MODi, with which you can create a whole new piece of music together with others. During the Kijk Muziekmiddag, you can just drop in and try out the instruments or join a flash workshop. Become a composer in 15 minutes!

14:50 - Mini workshop 1
15:20 - Mini workshop 2
15:50 - Mini workshop 3

Duration: approx. 20 minutes. We gather at SoundLAB.

Guided tour: Artist Route
Follow the Artist Trail and join an exciting tour backstage at the Muziekgebouw. Find out where musicians play and technicians prepare everything behind the scenes. You might even meet a real artist!

14:50 - Guided tour 1
15:20 - Guided tour 2
15:50 - Guided tour 3

Duration: approx. 20 minutes. We gather in the Entreehal at the meeting point. Full = full.

Sinfonietta Cracovia hails from the historic city of Kraków where the Polish kings once resided. The chamber orchestra makes its Muziekgebouw debut with American minimalist music and closely related accessible Polish music. Polish composer Hanna Kulenty, a student of Louis Andriessen in the 1980s, wrote a new work for trumpet and string orchestra. The premiere is tonight. The orchestra will perform a true classic by minimalist composer Philip Glass: his Symphony No. 3. 

Whereas American minimalists like Reich and Glass approach the minimalist style with conceptual rigor, the other Polish composers infuse it with a more romantic and improvisational spirit. Andrzej Panufnik and Wojciech Kilar paint landscapes in cinematic atmospheres. Kilar was a celebrated film composer and wrote the award-winning score of the film The Pianist about Władysław Szpilman. Hanna Kulenty writes what she herself calls ‘musique surrealistique’: appealing and evocative music full of repetitive, rhythmic elements reminiscent of Reich and Glass. 

The concert is co-funded by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw.

Programme booklet (Dutch)

Pain, sorrow, repentance: the apostle Peter was full of remorse after having denied Jesus three times. In 1594, Renaissance composer Orlando di Lasso created a beautiful musical setting of this story: Lagrime di San Pietro (Saint Peter’s Tears). He dedicated it to Pope Clement VIII and it was his last composition. Ensemble Voces Suaves is known for its beautiful interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music, based on historically informed performance practice.

Voces Suaves (literally: sweet voices) was founded in 2015. The choir has already won several awards in its short existence, including the Diapason Découverte and the Choc de Classica. With seven singers, the choir performs Di Lasso’s polyphonic masterpiece, which is also based on the number seven – seven voices, written in seven of the eight church modes and consisting of 21 (3 times 7) parts. A profoundly emotional experience. Thirteen years before Di Lasso, Palestrina composed his First book of madrigals. Five of them will be performed.

Programme booklet (Dutch)

The Danish String Quartet can be practically considered house musicians at the Muziekgebouw. For the fourth year in a row, the Danes are coming to Amsterdam with their project Doppelgänger, in which they combine quartets by Schubert with new contemporary compositions. Without exception, the previous editions were highlights of the concert season, and this concluding chapter of the project will be no different. Thomas Adès is performed alongside Schubert.

This time, the Danish String Quartet kicks things up a notch! Reinforced by cellist Johannes Rostamo, they will be presenting a captivating program of quintets instead of their signature quartets. One of Schubert’s very last works is String Quintet in C: he composed it two months before his death and the work was not premiered until decades later. The famous Adagio has the atmosphere of a requiem. Like Schubert, Adès composed his new quintet for an unusual ensemble with an extra cello.

Programme booklet (Dutch)

Musician Ahmet Aslan from Turkey creates a soundscape of timeless beauty, in which you can completely immerse yourself. He achieves this partly through his voice, which sounds robust and warm, but can also reach gripping heights. He also shines on his very own string instrument, the Di-Tar, a cross between a classical guitar, a flamenco guitar, and a bağlama (string instrument). 

Ahmet Aslan is a passionate advocate for the culture of the Zaza people, an ethnic group living in the border region between Iran and Turkey. He is loved throughout Turkey, however, especially since his music was used in the popular TV crime series Eşkiya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz (Ruler of the Underworld). His success has a ‘dash of Dutch’: he developed the Di-Tar when he was studying World Music at Codarts in Rotterdam.

Amandante is the first opera by Dutch-Ukrainian composer Maxim Shalygin. Shalygin’s music is adventurously omnivorous, yet rooted in tradition. A spiritual undertone, common in Eastern European music, frequently permeates his work. Amandante is a chamber opera inspired by the ancient Symposium, Plato’s dialogue exploring lust, love, and desire. Staged as a series of tableaux vivants and through a chiaroscuro of emotions, the opera unveils both the radiant beauty of love and its darker, more destructive facets.

Despite the war in their homeland, Ukrainian Nova Opera is creating new productions that reflect the progressive artistic climate in Kyiv. Nova Opera’s unique music theatre blends elements of Gregorian chant, trip hop, avant-garde rock, baroque, and folk music. Their work encompasses a wide range of forms, from traditional theatre to video installations. Their productions, often premiering internationally, have earned widespread critical acclaim.

This is a production of Muziekgebouw Productiehuis in collaboration with Nova Opera, the Greek National Opera and Stichting Ensemble Shapeshift. 

 


Thanks to:
_{Many thanks to het Cultuurfonds, Eleonora van Heusden Fund and Anna H. Toonen Fund}