Dutch Composer Louis Andriessen wins Grawemeyer Award

Dutch composer Louis Andriessen has won the $100,000 Grawemeyer Award for his opera La Comedia.

The multi-media opera La Comedia has earned Dutch composer Louis Andriessen the 2011 Grawemeyer Award, one of the most lucrative music awards.The $100,000 cash award, awarded each year by the University of Louisville, was announced on Nov. 28th.
The opera is based on Dante's Divine Comedy, was first seen at the 2008 Holland Festival in Amsterdam, and was produced in association with American film director Hal Hartley. It's Andriessen's fourth opera.

Andriessen, from Utrecht, is considered one of Europe's preeminent composers. His musical interests and influences range from American boogie-woogie and jazz to minimalism. He held the composer's chair at Carnegie Hall in 2009, and was named 2010 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Noord Nederlandse Dans at Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York

December 2 - December 3, 2010

Baryshnikov Arts Center

450 West 37th Street, Suite 501
New York, NY 10018

'Tidal' is a combination of dance and live singing in which the makers have explored new artistic boundaries together. Singer Nynke Laverman, known for great versatility from pop to orchestra and electronic music, takes on the musical execution. In this performance you will experience the magic of dancer and singer together on stage. An adventurous journey in which choreographer Stephen Shropshire, singer Nynke Laverman and musical composer Anne Parlevliet stretch their creative boundaries within an arrangement of contemporary music.

Noord Nederlandse Dans operates under the artistic directorship of Stephen Shropshire. With Shropshire at the helm, the company -which has long been known for its athleticism, musicality and virtuosity- continues to present programs that are both emotionally and intellectually engaging as well as physically thrilling. His work, along with the work of a new generation of young international choreographers, re-confirms the company's position as one of the most exciting and original modern dance companies working in the Netherlands today.

Wicked Jazz Sounds Band at Peter Stuyvesant Ball

                                      

November 19, 2010

The 29th Peter Stuyvesant Ball (2010)
Friday, November 19, 2010

The Netherland-America Foundation (NAF) is holding its 29th Peter Stuyvesant Ball on November 19, 2010 at Pier Sixty located in the heart of Chelsea Piers on the Hudson in New York City.
The evening begins at 7 pm, followed by dinner at 8 pm and the Peter Stuyvesant Nightclub at 11:30 pm.

More info: http://www.thenaf.org/

Wicked Jazz Sounds Band

Wicked Jazz Sounds is an Amsterdam based platform for music –where Jazz meets dance- bringing together the warmth of Jazz and the energy of contemporary dance music. They aim to bring quality music in an open and accessible way to a wide group of people. The platform features DJs, live musicians, producers, VJs and a most of all: a lively community of diverse people. All dancing with a smile. Wicked Jazz Sounds can build up from down-tempo background music to an up-tempo, floor filling, dance event.

The DJs and live musicians have years of experience in playing together. They have developed their own unique style and make you travel a futuristic journey through jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk, broken-beat, house, drum & bass and beyond… Being a platform for music, Wicked Jazz Sounds comes in many shapes. It is a party organisation bringing ‘Wicked Jazz Sounds clubnights’ in different venues and cities throughout the Netherlands. They are a live band that performs in clubs and at festivals. They produce their own songs and remix other peoples music. Wicked Jazz Sounds is also the name for a successful series of compilation CDs signed worldwide by United Recordings. Most of all Wicked Jazz Sounds is on a mission to bring together the warmest, nicest and happiest people and make them dance to the music we are all in love with.

Delft Blues Arts and Live Jazz

November 19 - November 21, 2010

Friday       at 5:00PM - 8:00PM
Saturday   at 3:00PM - 7:00PM
Sunday     at 3:00PM - 7:00PM

Holland Tunnel Gallery
61 South 3^rd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211 

Stairmasters
59 South 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Jazz Special
Three days of sparkling jazz, presented by Dutch jazz diva pianist/vocalist Heleen Schuttevaêr with an international line-up of guest musicians.

Delft Blues Arts Special
Nextdoor, the exhibition DELFT BLUES is on display on 3 floors of the monumental staircase, known as Stairmasters, Holland Tunnel’s extension for long term art projects.

Dutch artists Paulien Lethen and Jan Mulder show paintings, works on paper and ceramics in a striking modern-abstract interpretation of Holland’s historical blue-and-white ceramics in Holland Tunnel Gallery, NY’s smallest gallery space.

Slow Dancing at Lincoln Center

November 20, 2010

Slow Dancing is a series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world, displayed on multiple screens. Each subject's movement (approximately 5 seconds long) was shot on a specially constructed set using a high-speed, high-definition camera recording at 1,000 frames per second (standard film captures 30 frames per second). The result is approximately 10 minutes of extreme slow motion. The trio of portraits will be randomly selected for each cycle, allowing viewers to simultaneously compare dancers from different styles and cultures.

What at first appears to be a series of still photographs unfolds gesture by barely perceptible gesture -a motion portrait in which each dancer's unique artistic expression and technique are revealed. Viewers can choose to focus on one dancer's complete performance or observe the interplay among the screens. The extreme slow motion enables the viewer to share privileged information about the complexity of the simplest gestures, catching details that would normally escape the naked eye.

Bride Flight at AFI EU Filmshowcase

November 18 - November 21, 2010

A sweeping melodrama loosely based on the lives of three young women who traveled on the KLM flight that won the last Great Air Race from London to Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1953. Dubbed the "Bride Flight," many of its passengers were young Dutch women on their way to join their already-settled fiances. Shy country girl Ada, sensible Marjorie and sophisticated Esther are from different backgrounds and have different motivations for emigrating, but quickly become friends as they adjust to their new lives. Fifty years later, at the funeral of a fellow "Bride Flight" passenger, Frank, they learn just how intertwined their lives have really been. (Courtesy of 2010 Seattle International Film Festival)

DIR Ben Sombogaart; SCR Marieke van der Pol; PROD Hanneke Niens, Anton Smit. Netherlands/Luxembourg, 2008. In English and Dutch with English subtitles.

Barren at Margret Mead Film Festival

November 14, 2010

For years the memories of his late wife have haunted 79-year old Kees. As long as their homing pigeons fly in the garden, he is unable to let go of the troubling memories of their marriage. In a final attempt to free himself, he tears down the dovecot.

Peter Beets at Django Reinhardt Festival

 October 25 - November 11, 2010

Django Reinhardt Festival
Birdland
520 E. 81 Street
New York, NY, 10028
http://www.djangobirdland.com/

Shows at 8:30pm and 11:00pm

Peter Beets (Netherlands, 12 June 1971) comes from a music loving family. Classical music comes to him through his mother, a music teacher, and jazz through his father, a doctor. Both his brothers are professional musicians. In 1977 Peter starts having piano lessons at the age of six. A conservatory study follows when he is 18 at the Royal Conservatory for Music and Dance in The Hague. While still studying Peter wins the Pall Mall Swing Award and the Prinses Christina Concours. He graduates from the conservatory in 1998, in which year he joins the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw as regular pianist.

Guido's Orchestra

November 7 - November 17, 2010

November 7            - Houston, TX
November 13          - Waterbury, CT
November 16          - Chicago, IL
November 17          - Detroit, MI

Guido’s Orchestra is a fun-loving pop orchestra that has taken Holland by storm and now has the world in its sights!

Led by Guido Dieteren, a concert by Guido’s Orchestra is both a visual and aural treat, the talent of its young musicians complemented by a spectacular stage show and the personalities of both Guido and his wife, Principle Soprano Soloist, Wendy Kokkelkoren.

Judith van Wanroij, La Muse de l'Opéra

November 15, 2010

Monday at 7:30PM

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F Street
NW Washington, DC 20566
Tickets: http://www.kennedy-center.org/ or 800-444-1324

Opera Lafayette presents a recital with orchestra featuring the brilliant young Dutch soprano Judith van Wanroij. She sings La Muse de l'Opéra by Clérambault, a virtuoso miniature which calls forth in quick succession the many contrasting moods and natural phenomena of classic French lyric tragedy--fanfare, hunt, pastorale, tempest, birdsong, enchanted sleep, and the infernal. She and the Opera Lafayette then alternate several magnificent airs, including Télaïre's ‘Tristes apprêts' from Rameau's Castor et Pollux, with the composer's vivacious and imaginative dances from this and other operas.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111700378.html

Benjamin Herman at Byron Carlyle Theatre

November 9 - November 13, 2010

November 9      - Charlottesville, NY
November 10    - Philadeplhia, PA
November 11    - Baltimore, MD
November 13    - Miami, FL


As part of the New Cool of the jazz scene in the Netherlands Benjamin Herman blows away every cliché while working hard to return jazz to the dance floor, and building bridges between the mainstream, improvisational jazz and the pop scene. He began his career when he received a saxophone as a bar mitzvah present. Since then, Benjamin has become known as the hardest-working, sharpest-dressing and most original musician in the Netherlands. He is the winner of several Edison awards (the Dutch Grammys).

The Robert Bosscher Quartet

November 9, 2010

Bandleader Robert Bosscher is bringing together four highly talented and accomplished jazz musicians from The Netherlands and the USA – a one-time performance.

Robert is a musical personality who can give a one man show which easily stands on its own. Because he has always had an open mind for all kinds of music, he is a typical all-round player. The great pianoplayer Rob Manda, his personal inspirator, has always encouraged him to develope his own unique voice. Robert's got a great love for jazz and so it shows.