CLASSICAL MUSICIANS BACKSTAGE
Honoured that the dressing rooms of concert hall TivoliVredenburg have been decorated with a selection of my photos. Nice to see: musicians recognise musicians.
The acclaimed Dutch music glossy magazine 'Luister' publishes four new backstage photos of me every month. Very nice this inspiring collaboration!
Three sopranos in “Carmen pose”. Julie Roset, Camille Allérat and Ana Vieira Leite have fun after their awesome performance with Holland Baroque.
After a late-night classical concert at the jazz club: Martin Fröst makes his way through the fans with his clarinet.
Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright composed an opera about emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous. After the matinee performance, he joined the orchestra for a Dutch meal at our artists' restaurant.
Hanging out with the whole group around midnight in the dressing room after a late-night concert. Actually, we don't allow dogs but Ronja, Janine's super sweet dog, we of course happily smuggled in.
Sometimes musicians also simply leave the stage via the audience exit. Viola player Dana Zemtsov, with violin case, rolling case, shoulder bag and headphones, after a great performance with her Redon Piano Quartet at Hertz, on her way to the bar.
The Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter next to her dressing room; following a delightful recital of interwar German Lieder and French Chansons.
Pianist Behzod Abduraimov was still hungry late at night after his recital. As our kitchens were already closed, we quickly fetched Indian food across the street. In the deserted artist foyer, we had a cosy dinner together with impresario Marco Riaskoff.
By request, Denis Kozhukhin shows the left hand with which he phenomenally played Korngold that evening: the Suite for Left Hand Piano and Strings.
On the balcony of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Lucie Horsch and Anastasia Kobekina recorded an instagram video to promote their concert. They quickly check if it worked out.
Lorenzo Viotti just conducted his Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra with Dvorák's overwhelming Seventh Symphony at the Pieces of Tomorrow Festival. In high spirits, he is waiting for the cab.
The cellist with the most generous smile in the music world, Camille Thomas, chats after the concert with conductor Duncan Ward.
Done.
With his roller case and bass ball cap, conductor René Jacobs travels on again to the next concert somewhere in the world.
Soprano Elisabeth Hetherington exited after an intense but flawless performance in the Main Hall
Conductor Markus Stenz, dynamic as ever.
Super talent Noa Wildschut, after her dazzling performance with the Radio Philharmonic, a bit dazed, showered with compliments from orchestra members.
Soprano Jeanine de Bique gave an unparalleled performance. Next to the stage entrance, she sits waiting for the orchestral interlude to finish.
Pianist Alice Sara Ott will be artist in residence at TivoliVredenburg. One of the meetings to make plans took place at Bozar in Brussels. She can do that at the same time: meeting and playing the piano.
Yutaka Sado just conducted a great Shostakovich 5. Costume has already been changed for a jumper, but score and baton are still in reach.
She plays phenomenally, but is also terribly funny. After her recital, pianist Beatrice Rana stood for a long time making fun with her old friend Lucie Horsch who had come as an audience.
In the interval of The Fairy Queen, he had just told us so enthusiastically about his festival 'Dans les jardins de William Christie' that we could not avoid the analogy between the master conductor and Le Roi Soleil in this picture.
As the last guests leave the hall, behind the scenes Michael Riesman reminisces about the series of successful performances of Philip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi in our Main Hall almost forty years earlier. Riesman was always there, Glass’s right-hand man, leader of his ensemble. Still the great film & soundtrack sold out the hall with ease.
Even master soloists like Victor Julien-Laferrière get cheerful about receiving consumption tokens for the famous drinks after every Friday concert at TivoliVredenburg.
Alexei Ogrintchouk, on his way from master oboist to master conductor. Justifiably cheerful, in the conductors' room, after a brilliant Mahler Christmas matinee with his own orchestra.
Hannes Minnaar, stormed into dressing room during practice. Sorry.
So nice when artists come to TivoliVredenburg by train on their own. Baritone Thomas Oliemans dropped off his concert suit and walked with me from the artists' entrance to the office entrance for a while.
A cup of tea with conductor/singer Lionel Meunier. Impassioned as ever, he unfolds his future plans for his outstanding ensemble Vox Luminis.
Isabelle van Keulen plays through some phrases from Brahms' violin concerto before the hall rehearsal. In between, we share memories of her performances in the infamous temporary concert hall we had years ago during the major renovation.
Maria João Pires played grandiosely. Mozart's 27th piano concerto. Even though she had fallen at Schiphol Airport with her suitcase as big as herself. She could barely walk but a picture seemed fun to her; as long as it was seated.
Just enough time to smoke 1 cigarette together. Couple Ageet Zweistra and Philippe Herreweghe, late at night after their concert, at the stage entrance, waiting for their taxi.
As an artist, you are constantly 'in the picture'. You don't always feel like it. Top recorder player Lucie Horsch together with Julia Philippens with whom she just gave a concert.
Christina Pluhar shares a Leffe Blond after her Arpeggiata concert: she the bottle, festival director Vandamme the glass.
Edo de Waart, before the concert, in the conductors' room. We joke about the framed magazine from thirty-three years earlier, with his picture on it.
Ella van Poucke is joined by her family as she waits in the artists' foyer for the end of the concert in which she just played Dvorák's cello concerto. She went on to sign CDs afterwards.
Maya Fridman, world's most versatile cellist, puffs out after single-handedly clearing the ballet floor of the stage. That afternoon she recorded a music video in which she performs alongside Dutch freestyle BMX cycling champion Sietse van Berkel. Hence the ballet floor.
Jordi Savall pranks Festival of Early Music director Xavier Vandamme. Also to the surprise of conductor Marco Mencoboni and co-curator Prof Rosi Braidotti.
How could they? The Italian orchestra that soprano Julia Lezhneva was touring with had left for Schiphol in a hurry, without her. She hurriedly grabbed all her luggage together, crammed the bunch of flowers in and ran determinedly to the train. Fortunately, she found a friend at the artist entrance who accompanied her. A brief goodbye on the street, in the rain.
Things were a bit chaotic after the concert, because the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra was about to travel on to Spain. Conductor Elim Chan briefly checked her belongings.
Pianist Daniil Trifonov was eager to eat after his performance. Our restaurant was full, but fortunately there are ten more restaurants nearby. So we briefly crossed the square, the visibly hungry Daniil, his manager and her daughter.
Anything can go wrong around a concert. Violinist Gordan Nikolic is rescued by a helpful lighting technician with a tube of glue. The concert started at three o'clock.
Tenor Mark Padmore downstairs on the loading dock at TivoliVredenburg. After the last concert of a long St. John's tour, he gave his luggage to the truck to travel home more easily himself. But with flowers in hand luggage.
Sarah Neutkens can do anything: compose, write, paint, play piano, model and more. But also talk, like the other day during a Bach festival, where we spent an evening chatting about Bach's influence on pop music. Beforehand, we gathered conversation material, backstage at Hertz, with a cup of tea.
The director of the orchestra asked what I was up to with the photo camera. Gautier Capuçon already found it amusing, a programmer taking snapshots.
Angela Hewitt, fantastic pianist, shortly before her solo recital in the main hall. She is Canadian but has a first-class British appearance. While we chatted, she started making a cup of tea with the electric kettle. I sensed a characteristic photo coming on, but when she poured the cup it turned out to be meant to keep her hands warm. Pianist-tic.
Karina Canellakis, wonderful chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Just before the concert, she went one more time through the score of an unknown Stravinsky (Orpheus). I asked if I could take a picture. Smiling, she asked me how she should look.
Lucas and Arthur Jussen. They play piano incomparably well, of course, but apart from that, it is also nice to have them in the house because it is simply so cosy. Here they have just ambushed their father - timpanist of the Radio Phil - for a family photo after their joint concert.
Sir Marc Elder, great conductor, extraordinarily nice and a bit British eccentric. Immediately understood that if you are captured half an hour before the concert with a bag of Croky chips, you better make an act of it right away.
Ralph van Raat had just played the Dutch premiere of a new piece for piano and orchestra by John Williams. THE John Williams, known for dozens of soundtracks, including that of Superman. A towel as a flapping cape was enough for Ralph to transform himself into Superman.
A cup of tea with Janine Jansen near midnight. Musicians prefer to eat after their performance and not before. How nice that we have our own Restaurant Danel.
Conductor Hartmut Haenchen after the conclusion of Strauss' Alpine Symphony. A cool Leffe is gratefully accepted at such a time.
I interrupted a get-together between conductor Sigvards Klava and artistic director Wilma ten Wolde of the National Children's Choir. Klava, aka the magician, one of the best and certainly the nicest choral conductor in the world, had just given the finest concert of the season with the children.
