Amsterdam is the capital city of the Netherlands. The beautiful city is its countries largest, and is known as the Venice of the North due to its wonderful canals, stunning architecture and more than 1500 bridges. Amsterdam combines a rich history and culture with a contemporary party atmosphere. It is fitting then, that Amsterdam is home to Holland Festival, Netherlands’ oldest and largest performing arts festival.
Holland Festival began in 1947 and every June it features many of the world’s top performers spanning dance, music, theatre and opera. More recently film, multimedia, visual arts and even architecture have been included at the festival.
Performances take place in range of amazing venues around Amsterdam, including Westergas factory, Muziekgebouwand and Royal Concertgebouw concert halls. The performances are quite a sight to behold and viewing them in such venues only adds to the experience.
There are performances in a variety of languages, consisting of Western and non-Western, so it is a great place to view acts that you may not get to usually get the opportunity to see. If you like to be at the cutting edge of performance art, then Holland Festival is ideal as it is known to be particularly keen to support non-classical contemporary and modern music, including musical theatre.
Every Holland Festival has a loose theme, with each artistic director taking the event in a different creative direction. This has helped to keep the event fresh, modern and something to return to each year.
Pierre Audi has been the artistic director since 2005 and is keen to take the festival back to its beginnings, with a range of performing arts, big name acts and daring experiments. He wants to give people a unique experience that they cannot find elsewhere.
Holland Festival is an event that you should not miss. If you love the performing arts and you are in Amsterdam during June then make time to see some of the acts, as they are sure to be some of the finest in the world.
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