Remy van Kesteren

Nominated for the Grachtenfestivalprijs 2013!

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:24:44 +0000

Remy has been nominated for the Grachtenfestivalprijs 2013. The prize will be awarded by music journalists for the seventh time, to a proven young talent on the verge of an international career. It will be given to one of the five nominees during the Grachtenfestival 2013, on the 22nd of August 2013. The other nominees are: Berlage Saxophone Quartet, Martijn Cornet (baritone), Ragazze Quartet, Rosanne van Sandwijk (mezzo soprano).

Remy guest in Studio MAX Live

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:18:05 +0000

This morning Remy was guest in the live TV program Studio MAX Live together with the young pianist Yang Yang-Cai to talk about the upcoming finals of the Princess Christina Competition, that Remy won 9 years ago. You can watch it here. The fragment starts after 20:06.

Vote for Remy!

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:54:55 +0000

Coming sunday Remy will play in the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, in the hopes of winning the title Dutch Classical Talent 2013! Apart from a jury prize, an audience prize will be awarded. And you can now help Remy to win it. Please vote here and share the link to your friends and relatives. Thank you very much for your help! The results will be announced coming sunday.

Remy in De Wereld Draait Door

admin — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:41:32 +0000

This thursday Remy will be guest in De Wereld Draait Door (“The World keeps turning”), a live television program broadcasted on Nederland 3 (19.30-20.20). Remy will play music by Bach during a special broadcast around the reopening of the famous Rijksmuseum. The programme is one of the best watched talk shows of the Netherlands, with more than one million viewers a day.

Previously, Remy was guest in the TV show to discuss the first edition of the Dutch Harp Festival. You can watch that broadcast above.

About De Wereld Draait Door

De Wereld Draait Door (literally: “The World keeps turning”; can also mean “The World is going crazy”) is a Dutch television program produced by the VARA and broadcasted on Nederland 3. The host is Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. The program centers around a talk show chat format; the chat takes place at a large table and includes Van Nieuwkerk, a guest co-host that changes daily, and invitees such as politicians, celebrities, artists, or simply people involved in projects or organizations that are topics of interest. The show contains a mixture of news, information, television bloopers and general entertainment. Every day there’s a live performance of a band in the studio.

Remy patron of Zeist Music Days

admin — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:22:27 +0000

The Zeist Music Days has announced that Remy has become one of its patrons. The internationally acclaimed festival, under the artistic leadership of Alexander Pavlovksy, first violinist of the famous Jerusalem Quartet, invited Remy to be on its board of patrons because of his strong bond with the city and its festival. Recently, Remy performed at the yearly summer event with Quator Danel, Emily Beynon and Ori Kam. He is honored to be able to offer his support to this festival that he loves dearly.

Right Lane Driving

admin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:32:04 +0000

I never really understood right lane drivers. Why would anyone choose to drive slower than the maximum speed on the motorway? Why wouldn’t you want to overtake a truck when it’s blocking your way? Why would someone want to drive 100 km/h instead of 120, and loose that extra 20 km/h every second?! Who does not want to beat his Google Maps or route planner?! Being close to always in a rush, I would often wonder who these people were, crawling on on their right lanes. An old couple on their way to a rainy golf court? Parents in dispute with annoying kids in the backseats? Or lost souls burdened with some sort of motorwayfobia? While overtaking them on the left lane I would fantasize about their reasons to stay on the slower side of life. Perhaps the parents were reluctant to visit their families and the elderly could not read their tachometer. Or perhaps they were just bored, or jobless? Disappointed by the state of the asphalt or maybe they entirely lost their will to live? Whatever reasons I came up with, I could not imagine I would ever be driving there with a left lane opportunity at hand.

But last week all that changed. In an unfortunate sequence of events, my rear car window broke. It was replaced by an emergency, plexiglass window, that I had to drive with until a new one would be in stock. A small, squatty mechanic then broke the news: “Don’t drive faster than 100 km/h.”

And so the right lane horror was upon me. I felt like a snail on the motorway, with people passing me continuously with ferocious speeds. I looked at my watch and saw the minutes ticking by, my google maps navigation system kept on adding extra minutes and I felt more helpless by the second. Everything moved slower and I felt as if I stood still. As if life had abandoned me. Nothing could be done though and a sort of resignation followed. And then something happened. Something happened that would turn that drive into one of the most relaxing drives I’d had in a long time. It suddenly occurred to me that there were no cars to worry about; there was no need to check my rear window to see if someone wanted to overtake me and no estimations were necessary to decide whether to overtake someone myself. I only had to drive and keep a distance between myself and the car in front. And for the first time in a long while I looked outside and appreciated the flat landscapes, I saw the sun sinking and felt my head relaxing. Creative ideas arose with every kilometer pole and I thoroughly enjoyed how my little car rolled on the tarmac. I suddenly understood. Yes, it would cost me 8 additional minutes to drive my 80 kilometers, but I got it. And the minutes were all but lost.

Meanwhile, my rear window has been fixed. I was very upset when it broke – and even more when I got the bill – but again, everything happens for a reason. I now understand right lane driving. And while I cruise through life on my slow lane, I wonder about all the agitated racers that pass me on the left.

New documentary in April

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:20:43 +0000

On April 21 a short documentary will be broadcasted about Remy. The NTR follows him around for a full day and in this way offers a unique peek behind the scenes. Last friday were the recordings at Remy’s house.

Furthermore, the film crew follows him around to a Radio show, a harpfestival meeting and a meet-up with Hans van Manen to discuss the upcoming ballet co-production. The day ends at the cafe, where Remy plays cards with his friends and brother. The portrait will be broadcasted on April 21, 13.00 on Nederland 1.

trio42 tours UK and Belgium

admin — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:56:54 +0000

Remy’s group trio42 will perform in the UK and Belgium the coming year. From 16-22 june trio42 will be in and around London for several concerts. Additionally, in January 2014 trio42 will perform 7 times through Belgium. Dates and venues will be announced shortly.

Other countries where Remy will perform this coming year include Brazil, Germany, Indonesia and Switzerland. Keep an eye on the live section of this site for all the dates.

Dutch Harp Festival 2014: Storytelling

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:00:58 +0000

From February 26 until March 2, 2014 the third edition of the international Dutch Harp Festival will be held. The theme of the festival is Storytelling, which brings the original task of the harpist as a storyteller and news bringer back to the foreground. The Dutch Harp Festival meant a revolution in 2010, due to its special programming and combination of a competition and a festival. Young harpists from around the world compete for a place in the finals, while the harp as solo-instrument is put firmly on the map. Under its founding artistic director, Remy van Kesteren, the DHF 2014 promises to be another thrilling festival with celebrated artists such as the choreographer Hans van Manen, writer/poet Kees van Kooten and soprano Claron McFadden, and of course many prominent harpists.

Van Manen will make a new ballet with Remy

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:18:22 +0000

In spring 2014, Hans van Manen will make a new ballet for the National Ballet with harpist Remy van Kesteren. This news was released today by the Dutch press. Remy is very honored and extremely excited to work with this legendary choreographer. Read his blog post here.

Dates

The new ballet will be performed in the Music Theatre in Amsterdam, on the following days:

April 16, 2014 (premiere)
April 18, 2014
April 19, 2014
April 21, 2014
April 24, 2014
April 26, 2014
May 3, 2014
May 4, 2014
May 7, 2014

Press release Trouw (in Dutch):

Nederlandse Opera en Nationale Ballet willen een nieuwe naam

Van onze redactie cultuur & media

Voor het eerst in hun geschiedenis presenteerden De Nederlandse Opera en Het Nationale Ballet gisteren gezamenlijk hun plannen voor het nieuwe seizoen. Sinds 1 januari van dit jaar zijn de beide instituten opgegaan in een organisatie: Stichting Het Muziektheater Amsterdam. Algemeen directeur Els van der Plas werkt daarin samen met Pierre Audi (directeur opera) en Ted Brandsen (directeur ballet).
Van der Plas maakte bekend dat er gewerkt wordt aan een nieuwe huisstijl die geschikt is voor beide instituten, en ook over een nieuwe gezamenlijke naam wordt nog nagedacht. Dat betekent dat de namen Het Nationale Ballet (in 2011 werd het gezelschap 50 jaar oud) en De Nederlandse Opera (50-jarig jubileum in 2015) op den duur zullen verdwijnen. Ondanks de bezuinigingen die door het rijk werden opgelegd, heeft de organisatie de inkomsten dankzij sponsoring kunnen verdubbelen, waarbij de zaalbezetting stabiel bleef. Volgens Van der Plas wordt coproductie met internationale instituten steeds belangrijker, omdat de kosten dan gekoppeld kunnen worden. De opera deed al veel aan coproductie, het ballet volgt nu.
Dat de bezuinigingen wel gevolgen hebben gehad, is bij de opera terug te zien in het aantal producties: negen in plaats van de gebruikelijke tien. Voor het jubileumseizoen over twee jaar wil DNO wel proberen om weer eenmalig tien producties te realiseren. Holland Symfonia, het vaste orkest van Het Nationale Ballet heeft nog maar 45 musici vast onder contract. Onder de nieuwe naam Orkest van Het Nationale Ballet gaat het met freelancers en een nieuwe chef-dirigent (Matthew Rowe) toch grote producties begeleiden als Stravinsky’s ‘De vuurvogel’ (choreografie van Alexei Ratmansky) en ‘Corps’ van Hans van Manen uit 1985, gezet op het Vioolconcert van Alban Berg. Van Manen gaat ook een nieuw ballet maken, samen met harpist Remy van Kesteren. Andere choreografen werken samen met Viktor & Rolf, Rineke Dijkstra en Rrijn de Koning.
Het seizoen van de opera wordt vooral opgeslokt door Wagners ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’, die in januari en februari weer twee keer als cyclus gaat. Daaraan vooraf worden ‘Siegfried’ (September) en ‘Gotterdammerung’ (november) in reprise genomen. Omdat al die Wagners voor de oude chef-dirigent Hartmut Haenchen zijn, dirigeert de huidige chef Marc Albrecht slechts twee producties: Prokofjevs ‘De speler’ (regie Andrea Breth) en Richard Strauss’ Arabella’ (regie Christof Loy), waarin Charlotte Margiono zal terugkeren op het operapodium.
Nieuw zijn verder Glucks Armide’ in een regie van Barrie Kosky en ‘Faust’ van Gounod waarin dirigent Marc Minkowski zal samenwerken met de Catalaanse theatergroep La Fura dels Bauls. Samen met het Holland Festival worden de nieuwe opera ‘Laika’ van Martijn Padding en ‘Falstaff’ van Verdi geproduceerd. Bij deze laatste opera zit het Concertgebouworkest in de bak onder leiding van Daniele Gatti, en staan er een paar topzangers op de biihne. De regie is van Robert Carsen.