Dutch Music Week Beijing

A Dutch music week at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, with concerts by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Nieuw Ensemble and the Orchestra of the 18th Century attracted a large and enthusiastic audience in Beijing.

The orchestras each performed two concerts for an almost sold out Concert Hall (more than 2000 seats) at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), a prestigious new venue in the heart of Beijing. The Netherlands China Arts Foundation organised the concerts of the Nieuw Ensemble and the Orchestra of the 18th Century, following two concerts of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the same venue. All together, these concerts formed a Dutch Music Week, for which the National Centre for the Performing arts created a special programme brochure and website page (in Chinese). http://www.chncpa.org/n16/helanyinyuezhou/index.htm. The concerts were very well covered in the Chinese media before and after the concerts, including a preview in Time Out Beijing.

Nieuw Ensemble

The Nieuw Ensemble has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, string and percussion. The lack of literature for this kind of ensemble made the group them set out to build its own repertoire, encouraged by continuous contact with composers from different cultures, countries and generations, and long-term workshops for young composers. In November 2008, the Nieuw Ensemble performed in China for the second time after an 11 year absence. In the concerts in November 2008, the Nieuw Ensemble with mezzo soprano Margriet van Reisen and guqin player Chen Leijie played music especially composed for the group by Chinese composers like Tan Dun, Guo Wenjing and Chen Qigang, classics by European masters like Boulez, Berio and Donatoni, Dutch composers Mayke Nas and Guus Janssen and works of Japanese composer Takemitsu. The visit to Beijing started with a public rehearsal for 400 school children and music students. In the evenings of Thursday 6 and Friday 7 November, almost 4000 Chinese listened to a dozen Chinese premières, all introduced by artistic leader Joël Bons.
Check the website of the Nieuw Ensemble for links to reviews in Chinese media.

Programme Thursday 6 November
Mo Wuping - Fan II
Mayke Nas - La belle chocolatière
Pierre Boulez - Dérive
Guo Wenjing - She Huo
Tan Dun - Circle with four trios, conductor and audience
Luciano Berio – Folksongs

Programme Friday 7 November
Sjostakovits/Guo - Prelude and Fugue no 19
Toru Takemitsu - Rain Spell
Leilei Tian – Autre
Fabio Nieder - Serenate in tono folkloristico
Guus Janssen - Weer om Stuit
Chen Qigang - Concerto pour un instrument de silence
Franco Donatoni – Refrain

Orchestra of the 18th Century with Kristian Bezuidenhout

The Orchestra of the 18th Century specialises in eighteenth and early nineteenth century music, play on period instruments, or on contemporary copies. It is their intention to try to achieve the most authentic possible performance of the masterpieces of the late baroque and classical era. In its structure and size, the Orchestra of the 18th Century resembles the luxurious “Classical” orchestras of the period as we know them from London, Paris and Vienna. Kristian Bezuidenhout (South African), born in 1979, began his studies in Australia at the age of ten. To celebrate the Mozart year in 2006, Bezuidenhout appeared with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen in a complete performance of the late Piano Concertos. For the concerts in Beijing, Kristian will lead the Orchestra by himself from the piano.

Programme November 13
Mozart - Symphony in A major
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.1 in C major

Programme November 14
Haydn - Symphony No. 49 in f minor, “La Passione”
Mozart- Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major