Programme 2018

Opening

The Grand opening of the Cello Biënnale 2018 will take place in the Entreehal.

Opening concert

The seventh Cello Biennale is opening with a concert as a dazzling festival trailer: early and new music, from Versailles to New York, well-known and unknown, national and international, with world renowned players and upcoming stars, and a world premiere of music by Holland’s most virtuosic young composer.

National Cello Competition
First Round

The National Cello Competition is the most exciting part of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam.
Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury.

Let’s Talk: The Power of Music I

On the power of music in their life and work. Musicologist Saskia Törnqvist talks with Jordi Savall, Giovanni Sollima, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe.   

Music for Galway: Discover Cellissimo

Discover CELLISSIMO (25 April – 3 May 2020) A new festival in Ireland’s West as part of Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture.  Presentation in words, music and video by Music for Galway’s Executive Director Anna Lardi Fogarty, Artistic Director and pianist Finghin Collins joined in short performances by star cellists Giovanni Sollima (Italy), Marc Coppey […]

Students around the World

Students of Jan-Ype Nota and Michel Strauss will represent the Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Hague).

Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra

Every cellists wants to play it, the supreme concerto of all cello concertos: the Cello Concerto by Antonín Dvořák. Many claim that the cello sound is at its best in this piece of music. The celebrated Queen Elisabeth Competition was held for the cello in 2017 for the first time, and was won by 27-year-old Parisian cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière. His prize in Amsterdam is performing ‘Dvořák’ as soloist.

CELLOFEST
The Visit | BartolomeyBittmann

The Visit creates a fairytale-like soundscape that seems to tell us about early medieval times as well as about faraway galaxies. Young Canadian cello virtuoso Raphael Weinroth-Browne and singer Heather Sita Black present their highly acclaimed album Through Darkness into Light.
When the Cello Biennale introduced the completely unknown (at the time) Austrian jazz-rock duo BartolomeyBittmann for the first time in 2016, something immediately became clear: this duo would become huge.

Parool Cello Lounge: DUOachterom

Even after the evening concerts the Biennale is not over yet! Come to Parool Cello Lounge in 4’33 grand café to enjoy five free accessible concerts with surprising cello pop, jazz and impro.

National Cello Competition
First Round (continued)

The National Cello Competition is the most exciting part of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam.
Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury.

Spruce and Ebony (4+)

As a child, Micha Wertheim was always jealous of his brother’s cello case. Whenever they cycled to orchestra rehearsals together, everyone could recognize his brother’s cello case, while Micha’s clarinet was hidden away in his backpack. Micha never learned to play the cello, but at the request of the Cello Biennale, he does get to play with a cello. The show will remain a surprise, but one thing can be revealed: children 4 years old and up may play a part in it…

Spruce and Ebony (4+)

As a child, Micha Wertheim was always jealous of his brother’s cello case. Whenever they cycled to orchestra rehearsals together, everyone could recognize his brother’s cello case, while Micha’s clarinet was hidden away in his backpack. Micha never learned to play the cello, but at the request of the Cello Biennale, he does get to play with a cello. The show will remain a surprise, but one thing can be revealed: children 4 years old and up may play a part in it…

Announcement of the Second Round participants

Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury. The jury awards the First, Second, and Third Prize, the incentive prize, and the prize for the best rendition of the commissioned work, composed this year by the father of Dutch composition, Theo Loevendie. The audience gets to award the Audience Prize.

Cello Warriors (6+)

How does courage sound? Have you heard of the eight Cello Warriors? They’re limber, strong, and fast as the wind. Armed with cellos and bows, the Cello Warriors go to battle to win everybody’s heart.

A trilogy about acting tough, winning and losing, being vulnerable, and about the power of music. A choreographic concert featuring passionate music by Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, and Philip Glass, played by the cheerful gang Cello Octet Amsterdam.

Hello Cello Orchestra

A huge zooming orchestra where 160 children and teenagers play together, the Hello Cello Orchestra learns new music specially written for them to perform at the Cello Biennale. In 2018, jazz violinist and composer Tim Kliphuis wrote the piece for the Hello Cello Orchestra, with cellist Sietse-Jan Weijenberg (principal cellist for the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra) as soloist.

Music for Galway: Discover Cellissimo

Discover CELLISSIMO (25 April – 3 May 2020) A new festival in Ireland’s West as part of Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture.  Presentation in words, music and video by Music for Galway’s Executive Director Anna Lardi Fogarty, Artistic Director and pianist Finghin Collins joined in short performances by star cellists Giovanni Sollima (Italy), Christopher Ellis […]

Students around the World

Cello Company plays works by Maxim Shalygin.

Residentie Orkest

Bang on a Can composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Wolfe wrote a new cello concerto. Having made an immense impression at previous editions of the Biennale performing works by Rolf Martinsson and Tan Dun, Swedish cellist Jakob Koranyi is the ideal interpreter for this work.
Kian Soltani is one of the main upcoming cello stars of today. This season, he is the artist in residence with the Residentie Orkest, and performs Elgar’s beloved cello concerto this evening.

CELLOFEST
Mela Marie Spaemann | NES

German cellist Mela Marie Spaemann writes and performs intimate pop songs that stick to the mind long after they’ve ended. A young top talent, she studies with the best pedagogues, is winning prizes, en gets opportunities to perform as a soloist with various European orchestras.
NES is the Spanish-French jazz-blues formation of singer and cellist Nesrine Belmokh, cellist Matthieu Saglio, and percussionist David Gadea. Nesrine sings like a combination of Billie Holiday, Fairuz, and Caro Emerald, and plays the cello fantastically.

Parool Cello Lounge: Annie Tångberg en co

Even after the evening concerts the Biennale is not over yet! Come to Parool Cello Lounge in 4’33 grand café to enjoy five free accessible concerts with surprising cello pop, jazz and impro.

Night Concert

Arvo Pärt exclaimed having discovered Cello Octet Amsterdam 10 years too late, and Simeon ten Holt was over the moon with their rendition of his Canto Ostinato. Cello Octet Amsterdam is capable of making a performance of one composer or one work into a truly unique experience, turning it into a kind of séance. The Cello Octet has now set its mind on Bang on a Can composer Michael Gordon’s music. A clever choice.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6, performed by Arnau Tomàs.

Masterclass – Colin Carr

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Jakob Koranyi

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

The Comparison – Cello Makers

Colin Carr plays and compares new instruments by cello makers exhibiting their instruments at the Biennale.

Workshop SoundLAB

During the SoundLAB Cello Special you are experiencing what it is to play cello yourself, with the extraordinary cello’s from the artist Rob van den Broek. For kids (7+) with adults.

Korngold | Deception

The main score for the 1946 Hollywood movie Deception with Bette Davis is the seldom played and short, but fantastic Cello Concerto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Quirine Viersen absolutely owns this concerto.

Let’s Talk: The Power of Music II

On the power of music in darker times. With Musicians without Borders, Sounds of Palestine, Muziek aan bed.

Nomads

“The impact of Bons’ vision and the phenomenal playing of the musicians  make Nomads a first class experience” (Volkskrant *****)

Students around the World

Students of Chu Yi-Bing will represent the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China).

Ibn Battuta

Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI present music as it must have been heard by 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta on his journeys through the Mediterranean countries and the Far East.

CELLOFEST
Kamancello | The Eric Longsworth Project

Two musicians from Toronto, Shahriyar Jamshidi, Iranian-Kurdish master player of the Iranian kamancheh, and rising star cellist Raphael Weinroth-Brown, sit across from each other and make a miracle happen.]Longsworth is just as peculiar as his cello looks. Classically trained in the USA and settled in South France, he regularly performs with celebrities in French jazz, and with amazing musicians from the Middle East and French speaking African countries.

Parool Cello Lounge: Rosemary & Garlic

Even after the evening concerts the Biennale is not over yet! Come to Parool Cello Lounge in 4’33 grand café to enjoy five free accessible concerts with surprising cello pop, jazz and impro.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5, performed by Matt Haimovitz.

Masterclass – Giovanni Sollima

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Jordi Savall

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Students around the World

Students of Giovanni Sollima will represent Accademia Naziobale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, Italy), in association with cellists of the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest and students of Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain).

The First Sonata

German cello master Alban Gerhardt associates the cello concertos and sonatas by Alfred Schnittke directly with the Power of Music. For Schnittke, even though his music was often sabotaged by Sovjet authorities and his health was extremely fragile, composing was the only way to survive. The first sonata by Bohuslav Martinů is the most dramatic of his three cello sonatas, written the night before the outbreak of World War II, just before his forced emigration to the United States.

The Comparison – Cello Makers

Reinhard Latzko plays and compares new instruments by cello makers exhibiting their instruments at the Biennale.

Bang on a Can All-Stars

The Bang on a Can All-Stars, starring member and cellist Ashley Bathgate, play three brilliant pieces by the Bang on a Can composer trio Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and a few Field Recordings, from their recent large-scale multimedia project.

Students around the World

Students of the conservatories of Barcelona, The Hague, Geneva, Montreal, Paris, Beijing, Rome, Vienna and Zürich will give lunchtime concerts in the Bimhuis and concerts at 19:00 in the Kleine Zaal.

With a Blue Dress on

Two well-known works for cello and piano by Schumann and Beethoven, both composers for whom music meant survival, performed by the sterling duo Colin Carr and Thomas Sauer.
Julia Wolfe’s With a Blue Dress on is based on an old recording in which a female voice sings the sad folk song ‘A pretty girl with a blue dress on.’ Wolfe originally scored the piece for solo violin/voice and pre-recorded ‘tracks.’ Here, a special arrangement for five singing cellists will be performed instead. More singing is added to this in Das Buch by Pēteris Vasks, and in a new composition by Maxim Shalygin.

CELLOFEST
Weijenberg&Kliphuis | Svante Henryson Quartet

Principal cellist of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra Sietse-Jan Weijenberg and jazz violinist Tim Kliphuis decided to collaborate. When the Cello Biennale found out about this, they were invited to create a programme for CELLOFEST.
One of Sweden’s most interesting musicians is coming to Amsterdam: bass player, cellist, and composer Svante Henryson.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3, performed by Kian Soltani.

National Cello Competition
Second Round

The National Cello Competition is the most exciting part of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam.
Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury. The jury awards the First, Second, and Third Prize, the incentive prize, and the prize for the best rendition of the commissioned work, composed this year by the father of Dutch composition, Theo Loevendie. The audience gets to award the Audience Prize.

Spruce and Ebony (4+)

As a child, Micha Wertheim was always jealous of his brother’s cello case. Whenever they cycled to orchestra rehearsals together, everyone could recognize his brother’s cello case, while Micha’s clarinet was hidden away in his backpack. Micha never learned to play the cello, but at the request of the Cello Biennale, he does get to play with a cello. The show will remain a surprise, but one thing can be revealed: children 4 years old and up may play a part in it…

National Cello Competition
Second Round (continued)

The National Cello Competition is the most exciting part of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam.
Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury. The jury awards the First, Second, and Third Prize, the incentive prize, and the prize for the best rendition of the commissioned work, composed this year by the father of Dutch composition, Theo Loevendie. The audience gets to award the Audience Prize.

Cello Warriors (6+)

How does courage sound? Have you heard of the eight Cello Warriors? They’re limber, strong, and fast as the wind. Armed with cellos and bows, the Cello Warriors go to battle to win everybody’s heart.

A trilogy about acting tough, winning and losing, being vulnerable, and about the power of music. A choreographic concert featuring passionate music by Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, and Philip Glass, played by the cheerful gang Cello Octet Amsterdam.

Announcement of the finalists

The Announcement for the finalists will take place on Foyerdeck 1.

Over the course of three public rounds, up to fifteen students under 27 who are Dutch or are studying in the Netherlands present themselves to an international jury. The jury awards the First, Second, and Third Prize, the incentive prize, and the prize for the best rendition of the commissioned work, composed this year by the father of Dutch composition, Theo Loevendie. The audience gets to award the Audience Prize.

Ensemble Shiraz & Kian Soltani

Kian Soltani is frequently invited by orchestras to play famous cello concertos as a soloist. But this is not his only interest. During the last Biennale, he enchanted both the audience and Spanish fellow musicians with Fantasía para Violonchelo y Flamenco. A child of Persian musicians, he does not stray far from home this time and together with Ensemble Shiraz, he goes back to the roots of his own Persian family.

Students around the World

Students of Roel Dieltiens will represent the Hochschule der Künste (Zurich, Switzerland). 

Music by J.S. Bach for 2 to 9 cellists, including others arrangements of Brandenburgs Concert no.3.

CELLOFEST
Workshop Arnold Dooyeweerd | Jammesession

No matter the weather, jazz bassist Arnold Dooyeweerd has been cycling to the Bimhuis every Tuesday evening for the last forty-four years to give his famous jazz workshop. Everyone has a place onstage: jazz lovers, professionals, music students.
There are hardly any jazz musicians in the Netherlands who haven’t been to this workshop.  As always, the jamsession led by Jasper Blom starts at 22.00. Entrance is free.

Four Cities

Nicolas Alstaedt, a beloved returning musician in the Biennale, received an Edison in 2017 for his CD Four Cities, which he recorded with Turkish pianist and composer Fazıl Say. In his magnificent Four Cities Sonata, Fazıl Say describes his memories of four Turkish cities. Quirine Viersen and Jacob Ter Veldhuis have admired each other’s work for a long time. Finally, the perfect piece for Quirine has been written for this Biennale!
The tested combination of Schumann and Beethoven is continued by Michel Strauss, French cellist and celebrated pedagogue.

Masterclass – Jean-Guihen Queyras

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Kian Soltani

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Students around the World

Students Jean-Guihen Queyras will represent the Hochschule für Musik (Freiburg, Germany).

Beethoven’s sublime sounds…

The slow movement from Beethoven’s fifth sonata, the Adagio con molto sentimento d’affetto, is the most beautiful piece of music in existence to many cellists. Arnau Tomàs, cellist of the well-known Cuartetto Casals, takes on the challenge to prove that onstage in concert, after doing the same on CD successfully. Arnau Tomàs is also bringing a composition by his Catalan compatriot Josep Maria Guix.

Let’s Talk: Music and the brain

On the influence of music on the brain. With music collective LUDWIG and neuro-musicologist Artur Jaschke.

Tous les Matins du Monde

For the movie Tous les Matins du Monde (1991), about a 17th-century viola da gamba player, starring Gérard Depardieu as Marin Marais, the score was composed and recorded for the most part byJordi Savall. The film was extremely successful, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, and won multiple Cesar Awards including one for Best Original Music. Together with his colleagues from that time, Jordi Savall brings this soundtrack back to life.

Students around the World

Students of Reinhard Latzko will represent the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Vienna, Austria).

Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht

The popular cello concertos by C.P.E. Bach and Saint-Saëns, performed by Roel Dieltiens en Nicolas Altstaedt, are to be accompanied by the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht on period instruments. This has been done many times in music by C.P.E. Bach, but it will place Saint-Saëns in an entirely different light. The gorgeous though seldom played Adagio […]

CELLOFEST
Harald Austbø Kwartet | Ecce Cello

Cellist Harald Austbø is spotted more and more often in various impro and jazz enssembles. No surprise there: he is an extremely creative and original player and singer.
Spanish video and performance artist, dancer, cellist, inventor, singer, and composer David Fernandez presents Ecce Cello, a project born out of years of experimenting with the cello, sound and video techniques, and trying out for audiences.

Parool Cello Lounge: Emile Visser & Capital Tango

Even after the evening concerts the Biennale is not over yet! Come to Parool Cello Lounge in 4’33 grand café to enjoy five free accessible concerts with surprising cello pop, jazz and impro.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, performed by Jordi Savall.

Masterclass – Nicolas Altstaedt

LAST TICKETS

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Michel Strauss

LAST TICKETS

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Students around the World

Students of Michel Strauss will represent the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (Paris, France).

Friendship, Resistance, and Protest

Benjamin Britten and Mstistlav Rostropovich were close friends. Britten wrote a number of major works for his friend, including the Cello Sonata. Rostropovich took up the role of teacher, mentor, and guardian to the young Latvian cellist Mischa Maisky. After being held captive in a work camp for eighteen months by the Soviet regime, Maisky got a chance to emigrate to Israel.

Orpheus…that’s us…

The most beautiful myth about the power of music is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. If by playing the harp you are able to persuade the Gods to let you descend into the Underworld, if you can use your music to sway Charon to bring you across the Styx so you may bring your perished love back to life, you’re using the power of music to its fullest.

Students around the World

(Ex-)students of Amparo Lacruz will represent the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu (Barcelona, Spain).

Works for cello solo and cello ensemble by G. Cassadó, K. Saariaho, J. Guinjoan and others.

Introduction

Saskia Törnqvist introduces the “Antwerp Symphony Orchestra” concert in the Grote Zaal.

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

The  notable Belgian composer Wim Henderickx has created a new concerto for Jean-Guihen Queyras, a beloved returning master cellist at the Biennale. For the performance of Australian composer Brett Dean’s new cello concerto, Amsterdam is up now as co-commissioner of the piece, after Sydney and Berlin.
In 2017, Brett Dean made a huge impression with a new string quintet, with Alban Gerhardt as cellist. This year, Gerhard will be the soloist in his new cello concerto. Dean’s fellow citizen, composer and cellist Kate Moore, winner of the Matthijs Vermeulen Award 2017, wrote a stunning piece ‘Ocean Shells’ for Bang on a Can cellist Ashley Bathgate. Mathilde Wantenaar from Amsterdam is a representative for the youngest generation of composers. She studied with Wim Henderickx and is truly a jack of all trades. On top of being a composer, she studies singing, piano, and cello.

CELLOFEST
Chesaba | Jörg Brinkmann Trio

We received a tip from Giovanni Sollima, went to a performance, and were instantly sold. Young South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, connecting classical cello with African song and blues, is the offspring of the rainbow nation 3.0.
Improviser and jazz cellist Jörg Brinkmann is a remarkable phenomenon. He has been a guest at the Cello Biennale several times, for example in 2016, when he appeared in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ with Artvark and Claron McFadden.

Parool Cello Lounge: AWKWARD i

Even after the evening concerts the Biennale is not over yet! Come to Parool Cello Lounge in 4’33 grand café to enjoy five free accessible concerts with surprising cello pop, jazz and impro.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2, performed by Sietse-Jan Weijenberg.

Masterclass – Roel Dieltiens

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Chu Yi-Bing

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Students around the World

Students of Ophélie Gaillard and David Pia will represent the Haute École de Musique (Geneva, Switzerland). 

Kronberg Academy: Music from my Homeland

The top conservatoire in Germany, the Kronberg Academy, is home to the crème de la crème of international top talent. Three young cellists from the Kronberg Academy from three different continents bring music from their home country: classical music and folk music from South Korea, Colombia, and Belarus.

Let’s Talk: The Power of Cello

On the magical power of the cello. Mirjam van Hengel talks with Persis Bekkering and, Anna Enquist. Geneviève Verhage and Maarten Mostert are playing cello.

Belief, Hope, and Comfort

Quatuor pour la fin du Temps by Messiaen has an extremely strong meaning in context of the power of music, the theme of this year’s Biennale. Messiaen wrote this massive quartet during the Second World War in a German prisoner camp in Poland, and performed it several times with three of his fellow prisoners. In LouangeI, the fifth movement, scored for cello and piano only, time freezes.
Even just by the evocative titles of the pieces on this programme, the composers show what music can mean to us during difficult times.

The Comparison – Bow Makers

Mick Stirling and Sietse-Jan Weijenberg compare bows by makers exhibiting their instruments at the Biennale.

National Cello Competition
Finals

The three finalists, Amke te Wies, Eline Hensels and Irene Enzlin play Schumann’s cello concerto. Even though only one of them will win First Prize, all three players have proven to be among Holland’s most talented cellists by making it into the Finals!

CELLOFEST
Maya Beiser | Maarten Vos

‘Cello Rock Star’ (Rolling Stone) Maya Beiser presents The Day, the European premiere of Bang on a Can composer David Lang’s new multimedia project which he created specially for her.
Soundscape artist and cellist Maarten Vos is something different. He is unique and notable in his genre. With a setup onstage which makes it look like he is working in his own studio, encased by electronic devices, pedals, and buttons, he composes a new cello symphony that’s both dreamy and grasping at the same time.

Bach&
Breakfast

Six days of the festival will start off as any day should: a light breakfast consisting of fresh orange juice, a warm croissant, and cappuccino, followed by a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, performed by Harriet Krijgh.

Masterclass – Matt Haimovitz

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Masterclass – Reinhard Latzko

What could possibly be better for a cello student than getting a lesson from their idol?
During the Cello Biennale, 36 cello students from all over the world will visit Amsterdam to play in masterclasses for 12 grandmasters, who also give their own performances at various occasions during the Biennale. Every masterclass is two hours and fifteen minutes long, and features three cello students getting a lesson.

Cello Warriors (6+)

How does courage sound? Have you heard of the eight Cello Warriors? They’re limber, strong, and fast as the wind. Armed with cellos and bows, the Cello Warriors go to battle to win everybody’s heart.

A trilogy about acting tough, winning and losing, being vulnerable, and about the power of music. A choreographic concert featuring passionate music by Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, and Philip Glass, played by the cheerful gang Cello Octet Amsterdam.

Holland Baroque & Giovanni Sollima

Artist in Residence Giovanni Sollima calls them ‘mirror compositions.’ For this programme, he has composed reflections on Bach’s 3d Brandenburg concerto and on a cello concerto by Giovanni Battista Costanzi.
Costanzi? Like Sollima, he was a virtuoso cellist and composer, but today he is known only as Luigi Boccherini’s teacher. Sollima found unpublished cello concertos by Costanzi in a library, and is now performing ‘world premieres’ of the solo concertos by this composer from three centuries ago, who until recently was hardly known.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta

The last one of all the new works by the three Bang on a Can composers at this Cello Biennale is by David Lang: a new concerto for Harriet Krijgh, Claron McFadden, and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Bang on a Can is an inspiration to young composers all over the world. They have a close bond with Australian-born, Netherlands-based Kate Moore. Kate is rapidly building a name – she won the Matthijs Vermeulen Award 2017 – and at this Biennale, two of her works are performed, including a new composition for the four cellists from Amsterdam Sinfonietta. A highlight of Bang on a Can would be incomplete without music by Louis Andriessen, who has been their major inspirer since the 80s. At the Cello Biennale in 2008, Kristina Blaumane performed the new cello concerto written by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova. After 10 years of being performed and recorded, this piece deserves a reprise.

Students around the World

Program to be announced.

Cello Coupé

The final concert of the Cello Biennale is a non-interrupted, 90-minute long show featuring all the festival soloists who stayed till the end of the festival, set to look like it takes place in a Grand Cafe. The musicians surprise the audience and each other with highlights of this Biennale, unexpected input, and unique combinations of musicians.