Tag Archives: Dutch National Opera

Rob Zuidam zooms in on Joanna the Mad in his opera Rage d’Amours: ‘Joanna took me by the hand’

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Thea Derks

In 2005, Dutch National Opera and Holland Festival presented Rob Zuidam’s opera Rage d’Amours. Five years later, he received the Kees van Baaren Prize for this blood-curdling production about the life of Joanna The Mad. The award ceremony was part … Continue reading →

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Aida goes Black Lives Matter

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Thea Derks

It is night. Behind the windows of an immense hall, some scanty cars and cyclists pass by. The deserted space is filled with what seem to be rows of beds waiting for patients. An improvised covid-19 hospital? Then the camera … Continue reading →

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Mathilde Wantenaar on her new opera A Song for the Moon: ‘With music you can achieve anything’

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Thea Derks

In 2013 Mathilde Wantenaar (Amsterdam, 1993) participated in the project Boom|Amsterdam is an opera, two years later she wrote the mini-opera Personar for the first edition of the Opera Forward Festival. In March her family opera Een lied voor de … Continue reading →

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La Cenerentola Rossini: coloraturas by linear metre

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Thea Derks

  The first thing that catches the eye when entering the Dutch National Opera is the large number of young people who crowd into the cloakroom. The organisation has emphatically advertised its new production of La Cenerentola (Cinderella) as a … Continue reading →

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Tannhäuser at DNO: no ‘director’s theatre’ but subtle view on hypocrisy around love

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Thea Derks

Recently, a petition was launched for the restoration of Olivier Keegel’s press accreditation by Dutch National Opera. They no longer provide press tickets because he fiercely attacked Pierre Audi’s programming on the Flemish blog Operagazet and in the Dutch newspaper … Continue reading →

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George Benjamin on Lessons in Love & Violence: ‘Martin Crimp wrings music from me’ #HF18

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Thea Derks

The world premiere of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love & Violence unleashed a true flood of 4 and 5 star reviews. Martin Crimp wrote the libretto, as he had done for Benjamin’s earlier operas Into the Little Hill and … Continue reading →

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Teodor Currentzis: Music to die for

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Thea Derks

He is praised and reviled for his idiosyncratic approach to classical masterpieces. According to Teodor Currentzis (1972) this is ‘a myth, I only do what the composer wants’. On Monday 7 May he will make his debut at Dutch National … Continue reading →

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George Benjamin on his opera Written on Skin: ‘We emphasize the unnatural’

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Thea Derks

George Benjamin (1960) is composer in focus of the coming Holland Festival. Apart from the Dutch premiere of his recent opera ‘Lessons in Love & Violence’ there’s a semi-staged performance of ‘Written on Skin’. Benjamin composed this highly successful opera in … Continue reading →

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Julia Bullock sings Anne Trulove in #TheRakesProgress: ‘Anne is a very mature woman’

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Thea Derks

At the first opportunity he abandons her. He leads a debauched life, marries someone else and ends up in the madhouse. Yet Anne Trulove keeps loving Tom Rakewell, the main character in The Rake’s Progress. On 1 February, Dutch National … Continue reading →

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