Mastodawn

'An additional stumbling block was Sofia Gubaidulina's unshakeable Russian Orthodox faith, which she expressed in every note. '
Sofia Gubaidulina's ‘Revue’ proves unexpected gem https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/sofia-gubaidulinas-revue-proves-unexpected-gem/ #AliciaDiPiazza, #BaselSinfonietta, #SofiaGubaidulina, #TitusEngel, #Zeitgestalten

Sofia Gubaidulina’s ‘Revue’ proves unexpected gem

Sofia Gubaidulina, one of the great composers of the post-World War II era, passed away in March 2025. During the Soviet dictatorship, she encountered strong opposition from the authorities and was…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Mar 11

Sofia Gubaidulina's ‘Revue’ proves unexpected gem https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/sofia-gubaidulinas-revue-proves-unexpected-gem/ #AliciaDiPiazza, #BaselSinfonietta, #SofiaGubaidulina, #TitusEngel, #Zeitgestalten

Sofia Gubaidulina’s ‘Revue’ proves unexpected gem

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Mar 4

Will Mahsa Vahdat be able to sing in Iran now Ayatollah Khamenei is dead? She told me in 2023: ‘My voice is my home’ https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/mahsa-vahdat-tours-with-amsterdam-sinfonietta-my-voice-is-my-home/ #AmsterdamSinfonietta, #AtabakElyasi, #ForoughFarrokhzad, #MahsaVahdat, #MarjanVahdat

Mahsa Vahdat tours with Amsterdam Sinfonietta: ‘My voice is my home’

The internationally renowned Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat (Tehran, 1973) tours with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, singing her own settings of Persian poetry. She moved from Iran to the US in 2015, but ‘I l…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Mar 2

Marcel Worms & Ursula Schoch release CD ‘Female Composers from the Netherlands’ https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2024/04/03/marcel-worms-ursula-schoch-release-cd-female-composers-from-the-netherlands/ #HenriëtteBosmans, #MajoieHajary, #MarcelWanders, #RosyWertheim, #UrsulaSchoch

Marcel Worms & Ursula Schoch release CD ‘Female Composers from the Netherlands’

Women composers still not a given, shows new CD Marcel Worms & Ursula Schoch

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Feb 24

In 2006 Galina Ustvolskaya died. In 1995 she unexpectedly turned up in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and I managed to arrange an interview with her. However....
https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/galina-ustvolskaya-sind-sie-mir-nicht-bose-very-nearly-an-interview/

Galina Ustvolskaya: ‘Sind Sie mir nicht böse!’ (very nearly an interview)

Twenty years ago, Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) passed away. As a composer she uncompromisingly followed her own path and never conformed to the socialist realist style the Soviet apparatchiks imp…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Feb 22

On the cutting edge: Delta Piano Trio plays Lera Auerbach https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2024/02/29/on-the-cutting-edge-delta-piano-trio-plays-lera-auerbach/ #DeltaPianoTrio, #GerardSpronk, #IreneEnzlin, #LeraAuerbach, #MilkingDarkness, #VeraKooper

On the cutting edge: Delta Piano Trio plays Lera Auerbach

Lera Auerbach (b. 1973, Chelyabinsk) grew up under Soviet dictatorship, but decided to trade it for the free West during a concert tour of America in 1991; a few months later, the Soviet Union fell…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Feb 16

Trombone player Mikael Rudolfsson champions contemporary music on CD Encounter https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/trombone-player-mikael-rudolfsson-champions-contemporary-music-on-cd-encounter/ #BernhardGander, #EloainLovisHübner, #GérardGrisey, #KonstantiaGourzi, #LucianoBerio, #MikaelRudolfsson

Trombone player Mikael Rudolfsson champions contemporary music on CD Encounter

Last June, he played with Klangforum Wien at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, in a programme featuring innovators from the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In our pre concert talk, the …

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Feb 10

https://actie.degoedezaak.org/petitions/kabinet-jetten-i-evacueer-gazanen-met-een-geldige-verblijfstitel-nu

Kabinet Jetten I: evacueer Gazanen met een geldige verblijfstitel – nu

Het is belangrijk dat Gazaanse onderzoekers en academici naar Nederland kunnen komen omdat: • Het om onmiddellijke veiligheid gaat. Zij zitten vast in een vernietigd gebied. Zonder actieve Nederlandse ondersteuning kunnen zij Gaza niet verlaten. In zo’n situatie is “wachten op procedures” niet neutraal: het is een keuze met reëel levensgevaar als gevolg. Als Nederland de mogelijkheid heeft om mensen met geldige papieren veilig te evacueren, moet het dat nú doen. • Onderwijs in Gaza is...

DeGoedeZaak

Thea Derks Feb 10

Happy 100th birthday, György Kurtág! Muziekgebouw honours Hungarian grandmaster of incisive aphorisms.
https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/happy-100th-birthday-gyorgy-kurtag/ #DieStechardin, #GyörgyKurtág, #GyörgyLigeti, #HubaDeGraaff, #MaykeNas, #UnsukChin

Happy 100th birthday, György Kurtág!

On 19 February, György Kurtág hopes to celebrate his 100th birthday. That very day the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ will organise the concert Happy 100 György!, featuring music by Kurtág himself and kin…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks

Thea Derks Jan 26

Elfrida Andrée sheds feminine light on fierce Viking in Fritjof Saga. That a woman composed an opera was sensational enough in a genre traditionally dominated by men, but that she also questioned celebrated ‘masculine’ values such as physical strength, courage and belligerence was unforgivable.

https://theaderks.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/elfrida-andree-sheds-feminine-light-on-fierce-viking-in-fritjof-saga/ #MissyMazzoli, #LouiseBertin, #ElfridaAndrée, #SelmaLagerlöf, #FritjofSaga, #AaltoTheater

Elfrida Andrée sheds feminine light on fierce Viking in Fritjof Saga

In 1894, composer Elfrida Andrée and librettist Selma Lagerlöf competed in an opera competition for the opening of the new building for the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Their Fritjof Saga was not sele…

Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks