Dana Zemtsov viola
She receives praise for her "powerful tone and compelling storytelling power (NRC)."
Dana Zemtsov is one of today's most captivating viola soloists. Her
interpretations are brilliant, full of fire and life, and also benefit
from the dark and rich timbre of her instrument. In her solo programme, she pits Bach against Paganini. Tributes to Bach and Paganini by Vieuxtemps, Mikhail Kugel, Penderecki and Stravinsky also are included in the programme.
The Ukrainian composer Maxim Shalygin from The Hague is known as a wizard of sound. Concerts and CDs with his work have been listed in the press as cultural highlights of the year. For the first time in his hometown, his work is the focus of a festival, featuring solo pieces, duos and songs from a period of 15 years. With his compositions Shalygin has become one of our country's most striking composers. He dares to explore within himself the undercurrent beyond reason. In it, he says he finds truth and beauty, which can produce refined and serene notes, but also unruly and unsettling music.
Passe-partout 2 concerts € 55
Ekaterina Levental mezzo-soprano
Daniel Rowland violin
Emmy Storms violin
Lidy Blijdorp cello
Antonii Barishevskyi piano
Five of Maxim Shalygin’s favourite musicians come together for two song cycles and five duos. For his duos, Maxim Shalygin chose classical combinations with which he enters unexplored territory. A programme with intimate songs on the edge of silence to virtuoso pieces that demand the utmost from the performers. With homages to the Persian mystic Omar Khayyam, to Maurice Ravel and to the composer’s newborn daughter. Shalygin has written exciting and varied listening experiences that will not leave any visitor unmoved.
Maya Fridman cello
Emmy Storms violin
Antonii Barishevskyi piano
This concert with two intermissions features three acclaimed solo cycles by Maxim Shalygin. Cellist Maya Fridman plays Canti d’inizio e fine, for which she received rave reviews. Violinist Emmy Storms performs Letters to Anna, dedicated to her, an exceptionally demanding piece subtitled Symphony for solo violin. Pianist Antonii Barishevskyi explores silence in Shalygin’s meditative Preludes. Shalygin wants to compose his entire life cycles for solo instruments, preferably for musician friends whom he often pushes far beyond their limits.
In nine varied concerts, we pay homage to our planet, which is under pressure due to climate change. We present works by composers who feel connected to the planet and nature. Who challenge us to listen more carefully to the world around us. Who share their wonder at the richness of nature and inspire us.
With Classical NOW!, violinist Daniel Rowland is hosting a long weekend with musicians from his Stift Festival, known as one of the most exciting festivals in our country. A rich programme of compositions in varying line-ups, from flute solo to a grand octet with seven strings and piano.
Passe-partout 9 concerts € 225
Passe-partout 10 – 12 March € 175
Daniel Rowland & Tim Brackman violin
Benjamin Roskams & Floor le Coultre viola
Maja Bogdanovic & Pieter de Koe cello
Ekaterina Levental mezzo-soprano
Jelmer de Moed clarinet & Janne Thomsen flute
Natasha Kudritskaya piano
The sun sets in Respighi’s classic Il tramonto. Night falls in Vivaldi’s La notte. No one painted the mysterious starry sky more convincingly than George Crumb. That night is the setting for exuberant celebrations is echoed in Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes. In Arnold Schoenberg’s iconic Verklärte Nacht for string sextet, two lovers stroll through the moonlit night.
Daniel Rowland violin
Maja Bogdanović cello
Jelmer de Moed clarinet
Natacha Kudritskaya piano
In 1940, as a prisoner of war in a Polish camp, Olivier Messiaen wrote his Quatuor pour la fin du temps. The apostle John's visions of the end of time inspired him to compose his visionary masterpiece. As an upbeat, Natacha Kudritskaya plays a poetic piano piece by Argentine Osvaldo Golijov: ZZ's Dream. The Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou dreams of ending up as a butterfly in another dimension.
Daniel Rowland & Tim Brackman violin
Dana Zemtsov & Floor le Coultre viola
Maja Bogdanovic & Pieter de Koe cello
Nicholas Schwartz double bass
Janne Thomsen flute
Few composers feel as close to nature as Pēteris Vasks. Daniel Rowland plays Sonata Estiva (Spring Sonata) dedicated to him. Pianist Natacha Kudritskaya conjures autumn colours from her piano in Autumn Music. Danish flautist Janne Thomsen performs Landscape with Birds. Beethoven also painted a landscape with birds, in his Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral. The festival musicians play a masterful version for string septet.
Daniel Rowland & Tim Brackman violin
Dana Zemtsov & Benjamin Roskams viola
Maja Bogdanovic & Pieter de Koe cello
Ekaterina Levental mezzo-soprano
Natasha Kudritskaya & Antonii Barishevksyi piano
Nature is changing because of climate change. Turbulent changes and melancholy for what is lost translated nobody so poignantly into music as Richard Strauss in his Metamorphoses. In Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle, a woman merges with eternal nature. Eternity is also the theme in Gija Kancheli’s Time ... and again, a masterpiece as poignant, as it is poetic and enigmatic.
Daniel Rowland & Tim Brackman violin
Benjamin Roskams & Floor le Coultre viola
Maja Bogdanovic & Pieter de Koe cello
Nicholas Schwartz double bass
Antonii Barishevskyi piano
Antonii Barishevksyi combines Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan with two other movements from Ravel’s magical cycle Miroirs. The whales beneath the reflecting surface of the water come to life in George Crumb’s Vox Balaena. A theatrical masterpiece for masked musicians in blue light. Also the perfect setting for Blue in blue in blue, the grand premiere piece with which Maxim Shalygin immerses us in a hallucinatory new world.
Daniel Rowland violin
Maja Bogdanovic cello
Janne Thomsen flute
Natacha Kudritskaya piano
In childhood, we feel at one with nature, our senses still intimately connected. The Romanian Georges Enescu expressed this world of magic in Impressions d’Enfance. Claude Debussy succeeded in holding on to the magical world of his youth, in Syrinx, an ode to a mythical forest nymph, and in La Mer, his three-part homage to the sea for orchestra, which Sally Beamish brilliantly arranged for piano trio. Playful and magical is Aquarelles for flute, cello and piano by Philippe Gaubert.
Ekaterina Levental mezzo-soprano
Frank Peters piano
The nineteenth century was the age of nature philosophers. In pristine wilderness you could find the divine. Their ideas were an endless source of inspiration for poets and composers.
Nature poems by Goethe and others are the central focus of this recital with Song’s by Nikolai Medtner. Pianist Frank Peters and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Levental present the fourth CD in their cycle, the first ever, featuring all of Medtner’s songs. Hailed with superlatives in the press.
Tobias Borsboom piano
In Pan (an hour-long tone poem for piano), the Czech composer Vítězslav Novák wanted to embrace the forest, the mountains, the sea, even the universe in ecstatic music. His ambitious plan succeeded because, with a clear head, he exploited just about all the sound possibilities of the piano. Generous music with which you now time travel to Prague around 1910. The Hague pianist Tobias Borsboom believes in every note of Novák's music. Hearing him immerse himself in it is an unforgettable experience.
Konstantyn Napolov percussion
Percussionist Konstantyn Napolov fills the stage with dozens of instruments. He plays gongs and objects from the Chinese opera in Droplets by Christiaan Richter. Rhythmic processes from nature, such as raindrops falling, resound in different rhythms. It requires superhuman control to combine them. On other instruments, he plays nature-inspired solo pieces by Louis Andriessen, Maxim Shalygin and Nicolas Martynciow. For Eva by Remy Alexander, artist Rob van de Broek built a new percussion instrument.
French composer Francis Poulenc started out as an enfant terrible, as a member of the Groupe de Six who opposed the establishment. Unjustly, he has the reputation of having written a carefree, slightly superficial oeuvre with the sunny view from his home opposite Paris’ Jardin du Luxembourg. A reason for Classical NOW! to put his oeuvre centre stage in a small festival featuring chamber music, songs, his iconic La voix humaine in a contemporary version with webcam-girl and a children's concert with The Adventures of the Elephant Babar, which we present in both the Dutch- and French-language versions. We will announce the programme soon. Subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to know.
Passe-partout 5 concerts € 110
Hexagon Ensemble
If Poulenc was forced to listen to an opera by Wagner, he wanted to wash his ears with Mozart, his favourite composer. The Hexagon Ensemble – five winds, one pianist – will perform Mozart’s Quintet for winds and piano. The musicians combine this highlight of Mozart’s oeuvre with a generous selection of Poulenc’s works for winds, including his spectacular Sextet.
Charlotte Riedijk soprano
Ellen Corver piano
Few Dutch vocalists have studied Poulenc as intensely as soprano Charlotte Riedijk. No nuance escapes her in his songs, which demand the utmost from a singer: a light touch, flawless diction, a sense of irony and dedication to balance everything. She also sings Satie and Ravel, two of Poulenc's sources of inspiration. Her partner is pianist Ellen Corver, with whom she has been a duo for many years.
Coraline Groen violin
Jelmer de Moed
clarinet
Bram van Sambeek bassoon
Kalle de Bie cello
Drew Santini bariton
Rik Kuppen piano
A rich evening (two intermissions) with chamber music and songs by Francis Poulenc. Also on the programme are works by his colleague Germaine Tailleferre, with whom he maintained a warm contact. Six top young talents appear on stage, all big fans of Poulenc’s music
Huib Ramaer spoken word
Tobias Borsboom piano
Jean de Brunhoff wrote and drew a timeless classic in 1931 with The Adventures of the Little Elephant Babar. Poulenc turned Babar into a narrative for spoken voice and piano. It is one of his most perfect pieces. France’s greatest actors have recited it. Huib Ramaer narrates Babar in both Dutch and French, with pianist Tobias Borsboom at the piano.
Ekaterina Levental mezzo-soprano
Joram Ish Hurwitz piano (tape)
Chris Koolmees director
Alone in her room, a woman has a video chat with her ex, who is getting married to someone else the next day. Desperate, she makes one last attempt to safe her relationship. Director Chris Koolmees, in his version of Poulenc's theatre classic La Voix Humaine, does not bring a woman on stage talking on the phone, but a webcamgirl. A glorious role for singer and performer Ekaterina Levental. A production by LEKS Compagnie.
With among others Kamerorkest van het Noorden, Hanna Shybayeva, Ensemble Mäshräp, Bert den Hertog, New European Ensemble, Animato Kwartet, Maxim Shalygin, Mariana Golovchenko and Antonii Barishevskyi
Democracies are under pressure. Russia has invaded Ukraine, and in Belarus dissidents are disappearing behind bars. Hanna Shybayeva plays Frederic Rzewski's iconic variations on the Chilean protest song The People United Will Never be Defeated. The kick-off for a festival with music by persecuted composers and composers who speak out against injustice. Compositions from Estonia, Ukraine, and Belarus. An Uyghur ensemble plays traditional music from an ancient culture that China is trying to erase. The Animato Quartet performs string quartets by Jewish composers from the interwar period. The festival also an ode to imagination, which can make us stronger and more resilient. We will announce the programme soon. Subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to know.
Lidy Blijdorp cello
The cellist Lidy Blijdorp has won two Edison Awards in 2020 for her debut CD Journeyers: Best Debut and the Audience Award. The jury praised her “highly individual, maximally colorful interpretations” of works by Kodály and Ravel. In her first solo recital in The Hague, Blijdorp will perform Bach’s Sixth Cello Suite and Kodály’s Sonata for solo cello, a “train journey through Hungary, past vast landscapes and ancient villages, with a variety of Hungarian folk music and gypsy sounds,” according to Blijdorp.
Liza Ferschtman violin
“An inspiring voyage of discovery, a breathtaking adventure.” Five-star reviews appear in the newspapers with superlatives when Liza Ferschtman plays Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas in one evening. Over two hours of sublime music in a concert with two intermissions. Liza Ferschtman interprets Bach so masterfully that you never get the idea of attending a marathon concert. No detail escapes her attention. Her Bach sings, speaks and dances. She was inspired by Rachel Podger, Walter van Hauwe and Anner Bylsma - icons of early music - and convincingly brings Bach’s baroque sound world to our time.