Music for Japan

We’ve all seen the footage of the triple disaster in Japan, shocking images, frightening stuff. Students and alumni of the Conservatorium of Amsterdam have organised a concert for tomorrow, to collect donations for the victims of the earthquake. Money will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. The concert is organised by one of the [...]

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Sunday at the Concertgebouw

There are 1 hour concerts on Sunday mornings at the Concertgebouw – who knew? Lots of people obviously as the concerts are frequently sold out. I was at a full length evening concert with some friends a while ago, and at the half-way break I’d had enough and I started thinking it would be cool [...]

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Noorderkerk concert

The Noorderkerk, the church closest to my house, has concerts on Saturday through autumn/winter and has done for the last 10 years. So today they are celebrating with an outdoor concert. It’s an all day event, this was the first band and as I write this I can hear them playing a little bit of [...]

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Grachtenfestival

Every year there’s a festival of classical music centred on Amsterdam’s canals known as the Grachtenfestival. It starts today. Lots of the events are free, including the highlight event, when boats cram the canal outside the Pulitzer Hotel, and the canals are lined with music lovers for the Prinsengrachtconcert. The concert is free – but [...]

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Oudewets maar wel leuk! (Old fashioned, but still fun!)

I saw this group playing/singing on Prinsengracht a couple of weekends ago. They were singing all the old songs of the Jordan area. In this song they’re singing about the “Jordanese” the people of the Jordaan and the pride they have. (I’ve looked for lyrics online but can’t find any)

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Sunday Opera

I spent most of Sunday watching Opera at the Met, yes the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Through the wonders of modern technology, well HD film I got to see a superb performance of Der Rosenkavalier. Between the acts we were treated to behind-the-scenes snippets and interviews with the singers by Placido Domingo. I’m a [...]

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Canal Festival

The “Grachtenfestival” (canal festival) has started. This festival of concerts and performances along the canals of Amsterdam is a summer highlight. It culminates in the Prinsengrachtconcert, a free concert on the Prinsengracht, a pontoon is built outside the Pulitzer Hotel for the performers (and honoured guests), the concert starts at about 8pm, but Amsterdammers will [...]

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Music Boat

I heard the music before I saw the man, and the friend with me was surprised but followed me anyway. The man in the boat making the music is Reinier Sijpkens, who is a musician, performer and teacher. From the website it seems that he’s performed around the world, perhaps that’s why I only see [...]

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Street Music; accordian and saw

I saw this duo playing on Saturday, they’d collected quite a crowd – including one howling dog. So of course I had to go and look up how to play the saw. Bowing it makes it sing (produce sound), bending it changes the pitch. Apparently it’s easy to learn and (who knew!) there’s a difference [...]

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East meets West

I went to a very odd concert last Saturday, in the Westerkerk. It was a combination of 20th Century organ music with Gagaku, traditional music from the Japanese court. I’m not sure it was a good idea. I really enjoyed the Japanese music, the instruments used are ancient and alien. At one point in the [...]

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