Aurora Festival

Here is the last daily journal!

Aurora Festival 2024 Dag 9

The festival has come to an end. It was a huge success with about 60 beautiful concerts and other activities, visited by hundreds of more people than last year. From the many sold out concerts to the inspiring lectures, the nice dinner-arrangements, the young talent of the Summer Academy, the beautiful Sunrise-concert, the movies in Aurora Cinema and much much more: we had a blast!
We would like to thank everyone who made this fantastic edition possible!

There is also some bad news: The festival is in danger of losing the subsidy from the municipality. But you can help us to realize the festival in 2025!
Sigh the petition: https://petities.nl/petitions/behoud-het-aurora-festival?locale=nl
Or make a donation: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/nieuws/nieuws-artikelen/2024/july/donatie/

Even better: do both!

We hope to see you all next year at the festival!

It is already the last day of the festival. But we have some beautiful concerts left for you:

1230h: Chamber music marathon Summer Academy at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
1530h: High Tea Concert (SOLD OUT)
1700h: Recital Kira van der Woerd at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Final Concert at the Nieuwe Kerk in Groningen

Tickets for Kira and the Final concert still available at the door!
Info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

Today's program is, once again, full of exciting concerts and activities:

0930h: Public masterclass at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
1230h: Lunch concert at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
1230h: Lunch concert at the UMCG - Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (free entrance)
1400h: Florence Foster Jenkins at the Forum Groningen
1530h: Lecture on a special harpsichord at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
1700h: The Wonders of the Forest at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Fauré 4 at the Dorpskerk in Eelde (SOLD OUT)
2015h: Participatory Concert ath the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen

Tickets available at the door or online: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

Another day packed with concerts and activities!

0930h: Public lesson at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1230h: Lunch concert Young Talen at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1530h: Aurora Cinema with the documentary "The Smetana Concert" at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1700h: Recital Florian Verweij at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Anton Bruckner 6th Symphony at the Koepelkerk Smilde
2015h: "Emma, mon amour" music by Fauré and Debussy at the Lutherse Kerk, Groningen

Tickets still available online and at the door!
More info: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64cUGGSGxoY

Here is the daily journal of day 5!

Aurora Festival 2024 Dag 5

Last chance to buy a ticket for the High Tea concert on Friday, 15.30h: 'The lads of love and war'.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/26-festivalcaf%C3%A9-9-high-tea/

Only 4 days left but we're not slowing down!

0930h: P***c masterclass violin (free entrance!) at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1230h: Lunch concert Young Talent (free entrance!) at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1530h: Public chamber music lesson (free entrance!) at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1700h: Sonam Duo: Latin American classical music with various poetic intermezzi at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Janacek at Op Maarhuizen
2015h: Frank Martin at the Margarethakerk Norg

Tickets available at the door, except for the Janacek-concert (SOULD OUT).

More info: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

Another busy festival day!

0930h: Public Masterclass piano at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1230h: Lunchconcert at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1530h: Public rehearsal at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance!)
1700h: Young Masters concert by Noëlle Drost and Jorian van Nee at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (tickets available online and at the door)
2015h: Edvard Grieg at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (SOLD OUT)
2015h: Janacek at the Koepelkerk PKN gemeente Veenhuizen (tickets available online and at the door)

All info can be found on our site: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en

And there goes the last ticket for the Grieg concert...

Here is the daily journal of day 3!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkN8F0LGLu8

Sunday is no rest day at the Aurora Festival! Today's activities:

07.00h: Sunrise Concert De Onlanderij (sold out!)
09.30h: Public masterclass Cello with Amparo Lacruz at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
12.30h: Lunch concert young talent at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
15.30h: Lecture on Frank Martin at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
17.00h: Van Gogh Trio at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
20.15h: 'Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen' at the Margarethakerk Odoorn
20.15h: Schumann at the Dorpskerk Beetsterzwaag

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

Ticket alert!

23/07 Janacek 2, Op Maarhuizen: 5 tickets left
25/07 Faure, Eelde: 9 tickets left
26/07 High Tea: 9 tickets left

Don't wait too long if you want to visit one of these concerts....

Here's the daily journal of day 2!

Aurora Festival 2024 Dag 2

Today's schedule:

0930h: Public masterclass viola at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1230h: Free lunchconcert Young Talent at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1530h: Presentation Rolf Verbeek about his Bruckner arrangement at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
1700h: Lied recital Roza Herwig and Julius Backer at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Fauré in the Lutherse Kerk (various piano trio's)
2015h: Early music in St. Magnuskerk, Anloo

Tickets available at the doors!

More info: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en

Here is our first daily journal!

Aurora Festival 2024 Dag 1

Another day full with concerts! Today we start with the lunch concerts, every day at 12.30h. Entrance is free!

Today's program:
930h: Public masterclass violin (free entrance)
1230h: Lunch concert at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen (free entrance)
1245h: Organ concert with Erwin Wiersinga at the Martinikerk
1530h: Public rehearsal in the Hanzevast Festival café (free entrance)
1700h: Young Masters: harp recital by Joost Willemze at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
2015h: Smetana in de Dorpskerk in Eelde (SOLD OUT)
2015h: Early music in the Bartholomeuskerk in Stedum.

For the recital of Joost Willemze and the Early Music concert there are tickets available at the door and on our site: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

The opening concert was a great success! Today we continue with a day full of concerts and other activities:

930am: public masterclass piano at the Prins Claus Conservatorium
2pm: Aurora Cinema with Tar at Forum Groningen
330pm: presentation Paul Komen at the Hanzevast Festival café
5pm: Young Masters: New Beats! at the Prins Claus Conservatorium Groningen
815pm: Haydn Jeugd Strijkorkest at Marine Service Woudbloem
815pm: Fauré at d’Rentmeester - Valthermond

More info and tickets: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/

Today is the day: the Aurora Festival will start tonight with the Opening Concert! This is out but we have a lot of other concerts and activities which are still available, for example the activities in the Festivalcafé. Tomorrow at 15.30h artistic director of the festival Paul Komen will give a presentation about how he makes the program of the festival, how he decides about the themes etc. There is room to ask him all the questions you want!

Free entrance!

More info: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/18-festivalcaf%C3%A9-1-presentatie-paul-komen/

On July 22nd we will visit theb eautiful Koepelkerk in Veenhuizen for a concert with repretoire by Leos Janáček. He is the third of the great Czech composers after Smetana and Dvořák. He wrote an extensive oeuvre in which the folk melodies from his native region of Moravia played a significant role. In addition to the intense Violin Sonata (1914) and the impressionistic 'In the Mists' (1912), this program features the ultimate declaration of love to his wife Kamila Stösslova: the 2nd String Quartet 'Intimate Letters', which he composed at the end of his life in 1928.

The dinner at Bitter en Zoet is sold out but regular concert tickets are still available: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/22-janacek-1/

Two master students from the Prince Claus Conservatoire met through their shared passion for Latin American music. Maria Navarro and Juan Pablo Vega present a program featuring beautiful and often surprising music from Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brazil, interspersed with poems and explanations.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/23-ymic-6-mastercompetitie-2-sonam-duo/

On most of our concerts the pianists perform on our Steinway piano's, always perfectly prepared by H.P. Steenhuis Piano's en Vleugels. At one concert we use a historical fortepiano, for repertoire by Robert Schumann.

Schumann is perhaps the most romantic composer of the 19th century. He was a man of extremes. In the final period of his life, he struggled with severe mental issues. However, in the two violin sonatas from 1851, besides that tragedy, we also find beautiful poetic and lyrical moments. The Variations WoO 24 from 1854 constitute his very last work, poignant and ultimately resigned.

Paul Komen, on the forte piano, is joined by violinist Joe Puglia for this beautiful program in the church of Beetsterzwaag.
More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/21-schumann/

On July 22nd we present a concert with repertoire by Edvard Grieg, without a doubt the most famous Norwegian composer. Norwegian folk music and accessible melodies have made his music beloved by a very large audience. In this program, you can enjoy well-known works: the Holberg Suite and Two Norwegian Melodies, performed by the Haydn Youth String Orchestra, as well as a group of beautiful songs and the exceptionally beautiful first string quartet.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/22-grieg/

Ticket sales for this concert are going really fast so book your tickets in time!

On July 25th there is another special Young Masters concert: A wonderful, poetic journey through the forest with a narrator, a pianist, and a singer. The listeners embark on a beautiful allegorical story accompanied by special visuals. It is also a musical journey that begins in the Romantic era and concludes with exciting contemporary compositions. This innovative program is created by Diana Milena Acosta, a former master's student of the Prins Claus Conservatory.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/25-ymic-8-the-wonders-of-the-forest/

Pianist Jorian van Nee has been part of the Aurora Family for years. He participated in the Summer Academy multiple times in his teens and the last years he has developed in a wonderful, professional pianist who performs on our concerts regularly.

Together with upcoming soprano Noelle Drost they form a lied duo. In the last edition of the International Student LiedDuo Competition they made it to the final and were awarded the Vrienden van het Lied Award. On July 22nd they present themselves to the Aurora-audience with a beautiful program with music by composers such as Wolf, Eisler, Schubert and Clarke, but also with three world premieres of songs composed by Jorian van Nee!

More info and ticket sales on our website: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/22-ymic-5-noelle-en-jorian/

On July 21st we present a very special program: "Und Morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen"
Klaartje van Veldhoven and the Hermitage Quartet have curated a program around reflection, remembrance and love, featuring songs by Strauss and Puccini, as well as a portion of Franz Schubert's poignant string quartet 'Death and the Maiden'. Composer/arranger Max Knigge has created arrangements of several Strauss songs for this ensemble, giving them a new resonance like never before.

This concert takes place in the beautiful Margarethakerk in Odoorn
More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/21-strauss/

The Van Gogh Trio is one of the upcoming piano trios in The Netherlands and they deserve a spot in our Young Masters-series.

Named after the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, the trio originated in Amsterdam as a collaboration among close friends and promising musicians Enzo Kok (violin), Charlotte Brussee (cello), and Maxim Heijmerink (piano). Last season, they made their debut at Tivoli/Vredenburg in Utrecht and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This afternoon, the Van Gogh Trio will perform a beautiful program featuring works by three composers who were deeply connected in several aspects.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/21-ymic-4-van-gogh-trio/

We organize three concerts with music from the Czech Republic with music by Janacek and Smetana. The first concert takes place in the beautiful church in Eelde and has three works by Bedrich Smetana. His first string quartet, "From My Life," is a dramatic autobiographical work depicting the tinnitus he suffered from during his deafness. The piano trio is grand and sweeping, and it was highly appreciated by Franz Liszt as well. As a surprise, you will hear a beautiful transcription of his most famous orchestral work, "The Moldau," for solo harp!

More info on our website: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/19-smetana/
Ticket alert: There are only a handful of tickets left!

The Participatory Concert has been a tradition for many years: ensembles consisting of participants and their teachers perform on this official main program concert. This year they will present the String Quintet op. 5 by Svendsen and the Piano Quartet no. 1 by Fauré.

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/25-participatory-concert/

Every year we organize a High Tea concert in our Festivalcafé. Baritone Michiel Nonhebel and pianist Victoria Dmitrieva will bring three lied cycles around the same themes: love and war. Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte" sings of the sweet longing for an unreachable love. Ned Rorem, on the other hand, uses the stark poetry of Walt Whitman to translate his experiences during the Civil War into music. In the songs of the British composer Arthur Somervell, both elements finally come into play. He was the first composer to use the beautiful, often comforting poems of Housman for this purpose.

There is only a very limited capacity!

More info and ticket sales: https://www.aurorafestival.nl/en/programma/26-festivalcaf%C3%A9-9-high-tea/