The beauty of spiritual music through the prism of the Festival Sacred Songs

Festival Sacred Songs 2022 demonstrates the expressive power and beauty of spiritual music, poetry, dance and rituals from various cultures. Both domestic and international artists, upcoming talents and renowned ensembles, present programmes inspired by the festival themes of Rituals and Sacred Nature.

The festival opened on Sunday 9 October with the remarkable zar music by the Ensemble Mazaher and with a workshop on Egyptian dance rituals by Sabri Saad el Hamus. Have a look at the beautiful pictures and relive the special opening of this festival below.

Festival Sacred Songs is a co-production by Amare with Culture Connection, in collaboration with De Vaillant and De Nieuwe Regentes.

29 October 2022 / Canto Ostinato

On Saturday 29 October, the Matangi Quartet & Kalpanarts performed in Nieuwe Kerk as part of the Festival Sacred Songs.

The Kalpanarts dance company and the Matangi Quartet (both from The Hague) together presented the new performance, Canto Ostinato, based on the masterpiece composed by Simeon ten Holt. Canto Ostinato is a piece that keeps reappearing in a new form. Its repetitive character, the continual recurrence of notes and tone, has a hypnotic or meditative effect on many people. As Ten Holt commented: “Performing the Canto is more of a ritual than a concert.”

The performance by Kalpanarts and Matangi Quartet likewise had an almost spiritual effect on the audience. The harmonious interplay between the movements of the talented dancers and the beautiful notes played by the Matangi Quartet formed a wonderful tribute to the Canto Ostinato.

4 to 6 November 2022 / BALSAM

BALSAM is a sensory theatre experience, in which the audience is invited into a laboratory where they are taken on a true journey of discovery by three alchemists.

The internationally renowned musical ensemble Zefiro Torna is known for its surprising programme concepts. The ensemble teamed up with theatre company Laika to create a performance that pays tribute to the healing, stimulating and entrancing effects of herbs and plants.

Ensemble Zefiro Torna treated the audience to captivating music from Portugal, Greece and Iceland and the mystical songs of Hildegard von Bingen, accompanied by appropriate and wholesome bites.