Organization:

Holland Festival

The Holland Festival is the annual trend-setting, innovative and adventurous high point of the cultural season in Holland. Since it was founded in 1947, the Holland Festival has aimed to present topical and innovative achievements in the dramatic arts - music, opera, theatre, dance – both in the most classical sense and experimental. This formula leaves room for productions and makers who have demonstrated their abilities and already made their name, as well as audacious and unknown artistic expressions by theatre makers who are often young and (still) undiscovered. The festival is a podium for about 30 productions in 80 shows. The Holland Festival also incidentally includes the visual arts and film in the programme.

The Holland Festival aims to offer an international programme with a broad base extending as far as more popular genres such as pop music and entertainment. It also aims to breakthrough the artificial division between "high" and "low" culture.

The Festival also wants to provide a conscious contribution to erasing the boundaries between the different (dramatic) arts, such as "music", "opera", "theatre" and "dance". In practice, it becomes apparent that many productions presented by the Festival cannot easily be labelled. "The future is with impure art: the pure concert, the pure show and the pure exhibition are increasingly facing problems. They no longer offer room for artists to present themselves." Festival visitors have to be surprised, in a little sense, with combinations of arts they have not seen before.

June
The Holland Festival will take place during the entire month of June in Amsterdam’s top cultural venues. Main venues include Het Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Het Muziektheater, the Stadsschouwburg and the Westergasfabriek.

Contact information

  • Holland Festival
  • Piet Heinkade 5
  • Amsterdam
  • NL