The Dutch National Opera and Ballet, a venue for the Holland Festival 2014. Image courtesy of Andrea Puggioni on Flickr.
If you’re visiting the city between June and September, then chances are you wil get sucked into attending a performance at least one of the Amsterdam Summer Festivals. The biggest arts festival held in The Netherlands is the Holland Festival and dates for 2014 are June 1–29, when international musicians and actors will pour into the city from as far afield as Japan and South Africa.
The festival takes to the streets of Amsterdam, with performances popping up in many public places. Every sizeable venue in the city gets to partake in the festival; from the mainstream Muziektheater and Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam to the Royal Theatre Carré. Other more avant-garde venues include the art-house Westergasfabriek and the Ziggo Dome, a new multi-purpose venue in Zuidoost.
The Holland Festival has been an annual event on Amsterdam’s arts calendar since 1947. Artistic director Pierre Audi is keen to lead the Holland Festival back to its roots to represent all genres of performing art, from classical music to garage, drama, dance, film, and opera. In 2014 star turns will include performances of War Horse (in Dutch) staged at the Royal Carré Theatre and Verdi’s Falstaff will be on stage at the Dutch National Opera and Ballet – and there will be a free open-air staging of Falstaff in the Oosterpark on Saturday, June 28 at 8pm.
With many stars coming from overseas, non-Western art on offer at the festival includes the harrowing Nocturne by Japanese performance artist Tomoko Mukaiyama at the Muziekgebouw aant’ IJ on the IJ harbor waterfront, which is her response to the tsunami disaster in March 2011. Later in the festival in the same venue on the IJ, the short films of South African artist William Kentridge will be played as a backdrop to the lieder of Franz Schubert as sung by German baritone Matthias Goerne, accompanied by pianist Markus Hinterhäuser.
Tickets for 2014 are now available on the Holland Festival website, by telephone (+31 (0)20 523 77 87), and from the festival box office at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam on Leidseplein. Festival tickets bought through the Holland Festival Ticket Service are also valid for travel on trams and city buses for three hours before and four hours after the relevant show.
More Amsterdam Summer Festivals
And the Amsterdam summer of fun does not stop with the Holland Festival. There’s always something happening in this gregarious, outgoing city. For lovers of open-air theater, music and comedy, the Vondelpark Open Air Theatre (Openluchttheater in Dutch) runs from May through August and kicks off with a mixed bag of live music, dance and drama, with star attractions in 2014 including the Dutch National Opera Academy on Sunday June 22, singer-song writer Celine Cairo (Saturday June 28) and award-wining dance from Dance Makers Amsterdam on Friday August 8. Information on the 2014 program is now available on the Vondelpark Open Air Theatre website.
Amsterdam is one of the most culturally diverse cities in Europe and hosts the biggest world music festival in The Netherlands every July – 2014 dates for Roots Festival are July 3 through 6 – to celebrate ethnic music from melancholy flamenco and fado to joyous samba and to reggae. The multi-cultural bonanza spreads across the city into every sizeable venue from the Melkweg, Paradiso and the Bimhuis to the Tropentheater and Sugar Factory.
Events culminate on Sunday July 6 with a bumper six-stage open-air concert on trendy Java-Eiland, with an admission charge of 12.50 (€15 on the day). Tickets for 2014 are now available on the Amsterdam Roots Festival website.
The Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival) brings aspiring musicians together with established classical stars for ten days every August; festival dates for 2014 are August 15-24. Soloists and ensembles play classical music from opera to chamber orchestras and the festival hosts concerts on boats, on pontoons and in 17th-century mansions along the Canal Ring as well as all the other sizeable venues in Amsterdam. Every year the Grachtenfestival culminates in a rousing open-air concert of classical favorites held on Prinsengracht outside the Pulitzer Hotel, this year’s date is August 24. Tickets for 2014 will be available on the Grachtenfestival website from the end of June and from the festival ticket office at Prinsengracht 583.
Amsterdam Gay Pride is one of the biggest parties of the Dutch summer. Image courtesy of Erik Huiberts on Flickr.
Uitmarkt is the biggest cultural festival in The Netherlands with 450 performances from 2,000 international artists attracting half a million visitors into Amsterdam for a weekend of celebrating all genres of music from hip-hop to classical – 2014 dates are August 29–31. Uitmarkt translates from Dutch as ‘outdoor market’ and it involves more than 30 venues and open-air pop-up stages around the Vondelpark, Museumplein and Leisdseplein. And what’s more, it’s all free.
The central focus of the festival is in Musemplein, where information booths advising on each day’s events will be set up. The piazza will also host the spectacular opening concert as well as public sing-alongs, the annual book market and open-air film screenings as well activities and workshops for kids at Uitmarkt Junior. Tickets for 2014 will be available on the Uitboro website at the beginning of August, when the line up will be confirmed.
There are literally scores of one-day festivals throughout the summer, ranging from A Day in the Park on Saturday, July 12, featuring house and techno in the Amsterdamse Bos to the Loveland dance music fest on Saturday, 9th August at the Sloterpark in western Amsterdam. The summer’s biggest street party, however, is definitely the riotous Amsterdam Gay Pride week running between Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, August 3rd. A celebration of the open-hearted culture of The Netherlands, Pride 2014 kicks off with a canal parade of barges lavishly decorated with camp themes and music and laughter; the week continues with street parties, concerts and workshops. The Amsterdam Gay Pride program is available on their website.
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