In Batenburg, everything is within walking distance. Bar Baroque, the festival café, is next to the Old Saint-Victor church. Audiences can get to know each other here. It is a small-scale festival, but packed with concerts and other activities! A walking tour, a festival choir, restaurants. A festive late summer weekend.
When I moved here a few years ago, I was impressed by the beautiful places so suitable for concerts. This festival is for everyone. You don’t have to be a music connoisseur. There is folk, fusion, and jazz as well as baroque music. Music is universal. Everything is acoustic, fitting to the churches, the pub, and the concert barn.
How nicely does the festival fit in with Batenburg and its surroundings, was Batenburg chosen deliberately or was it a coincidence?
Throughout the year, I travel the world with my orchestra Holland Baroque. It is great to bring music, and the adventure that is a concert, to this place. Because this is where I live. Of course, it’s great to play in Shanghai, Paris and Seville, but to initiate something here in Batenburg, that’s just so special! I want to focus on more music in this area.
What composers should I think of when I think of classical chamber music? And what kind of
instruments?
Violinists, cellists, lutenists, clarinettists, singers, and many other instruments are coming to the festival. More than thirty-five musicians from fifteen different countries will travel to Batenburg this weekend.
Can you talk a bit more about fusion and folk?
In recent years, many musicians have been getting more and more involved in all kinds of genres. I see many musicians also improvising and composing themselves. Julian Schneemann, for instance, enriches his piano playing with jazz and world music. So what is his music called? If you listen, you will find that it doesn’t matter. You will naturally understand his musical story.
In what form may children participate in The Children’s Concert? And why is it an important creative stimulus? Is there little enthusiasm among children for classical music?
I think it is very important that children can go to live concerts. Children hear a lot of music through video games and films, which is great. But seeing the instruments in real life, feeling up close what it’s like to play in an orchestra, that’s an experience children don’t often get. If you want to play an instrument yourself, it is useful to see it in real life first. During the concert, we will play pieces the children know from their musical performance from last year, so they can sing along. We will also use the organ in the church. And we will explore together how it is possible that a singer can sing so well. It will be a varied concert with laughter, cheers and singing along.
The Suyderhoud Award, whence this name? Isn’t it hard to compare singing and violin?
The idea for this new festival is not my own. My neighbour Frank said to me, two years ago, “Now when are you going to start something for Batenburg?” That sentence stuck. Not in Batenburg but for Batenburg. An essential difference. I am grateful that he said it like that at that moment. Frank spurred me on to this initiative.
Frank Suyderhoud died unexpectedly eighteen months ago. The Suyderhoud award is a tribute to him. It is an award for up-and-coming talent. The jury is formed by five Batenburgers. This year (2023), they are Eline van Haren, Aloys Kamp, Marian Klievink, Louis van den Hengel and Victor Banken. The prize is fifteen hundred euros, a meeting with a renowned artist of your choice, and a guest performance for the youth of Batenburg and the surrounding area. The money is provided by sponsors. They have committed themselves to this prize for five years.
Whether it is difficult to compare singing and violin? We gave the jury tips on how to listen to the concerts. Communicating with an audience, spontaneity, playing together. These are all qualities that are separate from virtuosity.
Tickets for the 2024 editions of the festival will go on sale soon via https://www.batenburgbaroque.nl/