4 replies to this topic

[Maglorfin]

As it seems, something bad is happening in Dutch culture, as "the devastating cuts in arts and culture in the Netherlands" are said to have been put in effect. In support of affected Dutch musicians, many renowned (as well as not so well-known) orchestras around the world are playing and recording a short excerpt from Soldier of Orange film score which Rogier van Otterloo composed in 1977 (what a good year! ). More than 50 orchestras have participated so far and posted their performances on YouTube. Here is an example by the LSO and Valery Gergiev.



I probably wouldn't know or hear of his for some time, hadn't our own Slovenian Philharmonic orchestra performed the piece this last Friday as an addition to their scheduled subscription series concert which I attended (they played music by Sibelius, Smetana and Janaček). After the intermission, the concertmaster stood up and announced the piece, as well as saying a few words of support.

I think it's a great idea and if anybody here is involved in a symphony orchestra, be it a professional or amateur one, why not download a piece from the SoO website (here, you can also read a lot of additional information) and perform it at your next concert. Let us also show support of Dutch musicians, music and culture in general!

P. S.: Maybe all Dutch forum members can elaborate on this situation, since it's happening in your country, you probably know even better what is going on and update us on how this unfortunate situation unwinds.

[AI]

Oh bloody hell, that far out-shadows any other atrocities happening in the world at this time!

like this for instance

[Stefancos]

P. S.: Maybe all Dutch forum members can elaborate on this situation, since it's happening in your country, you probably know even better what is going on and update us on how this unfortunate situation unwinds.

It's hard to elaborate of this without getting political.

The current Government considers culture to be a left-wing hobby and has started to cut the subsidy on it.

[Miguel Andrade]

I guess that it isn't unexpected that in the current economical climate, the arts would get a hard time subsisting. I remember reading last year about the viability of the Metropole Orkest and the venue were they usual perform (which also houses the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra) under this difficult times, due to the cuts on their budgets.
While I understand that we all need to make sacrifices, if justified as you put it Stefan, it's just plain stupid.

[Goldsmithfan]

Oh bloody hell, that far out-shadows any other atrocities happening in the world at this time!

like this for instance

It's not the worst thing going on in the world so it doesn't deserve attention? Hey! J-j-jaded!

Funding for the arts being pulled is a serious problem in the world. It's not as bad as mutilating women's vulvas but it's still not a good thing.