Embassy Festival, The Hague, 2013
Held annually in the beautiful, historic centre of The Hague, the Netherlands' Embassy Festival is a vibrant and cosmopolitan celebration of the world's musical and culinary arts.
Curated by Australian/Dutch conductor Simon Murphy, the festival's classical/jazz stage features a rich variety of musical styles performed by leading international musicians in a series of concert programmes of music from 5 continents with repertoire spanning 5 centuries. Music for the ears, eyes, heart, soul and mind.
Festival Programme
Murphy's programme for the inaugural edition of the festival in 2012 was opened by Dutch harp superstar Lavinia Meijer, winner of the 2012 Edison Music Award, and featured a wide variety of other international artists, including Boreas Quartett Bremen and the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio.
Headlining this year's festival programme was UK-based Australian classical saxophonist Amy Dickson whose new solo album Dusk and Dawn (Sony) recently hit no. 1 in the British charts. In her festival concert New World, Dickson (pictured) performed works by French impressionists alongside compositions written for her by contemporary Australian composer Ross Edwards. Performing on her 1725 Guarneri violin, Dutch star violinist Frederieke Saeijs (pictured below) opened the 2013 festivities with a programme entitled Reflections in which she explored intimate, celebratory and virtuoso works for solo violin by Bach and Ysaye.
Other 2013 festival artists included Swedish lute virtuoso Karl Nyhlin performing works from his new CD exploring Jacobean period lute music from England and Scotland, Ukrainian/American opera diva Julia Kogan with a recital of comic art songs entitled Duck Soup, ECM recording artist, Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli performing a programme of smooth Nordic jazz entitled Northern Lights, and award-winning Canadian soprano Stefanie True presenting lieder by Mozart, Dussek, Schubert and Robert and Clara Schumann.
Murphy also delivered a recital performance at the festival with a programme entitled Summer Serenade featuring works for solo viola by Rolla and Schubert. Other performances featured acclaimed U.S. pianist Bobby Mitchell and Belgian percussionist Koen Plaetinck.
Location
A stone's throw away from the city's historic concert halls, opera houses and art galleries, the tree-lined boulevard of The Hague's Lange Voorhout makes the perfect backdrop for the Embassy Festival's international classical and jazz programme. In this inspiring festival setting, along cobblestone streets once walked by Mozart, Beethoven and Dussek, modern audiences now have the opportunity to savour some of the world's most exciting contemporary performers in a series of engaging concert presentations.
Other 2013 festival offerings included culinary delights from around the world, street art, dance and theatre.
Festival Details
Embassy Festival Classical and Jazz Programme
Embassy Festival Brochure
Festival organiser is Prooost in partnership with the city of The Hague.
Major festival sponsors include APM Terminals and ABN AMRO.
Embassy Festival, Lange Voorhout, The Hague
Saturday 7 September 2013, 12:00 to 21:00
Entrance Free
www.embassyfestival.com
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For further information on conductor Simon Murphy's other projects and performing activities, visit:
www.simonmurphyconductor.com
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