Winternachten New Year's Concert

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Music, poetry and spoken word come together in this one-of-a-kind concert with appearances by Wende, Ellen ten Damme, Fresku, and poets Ramsey Nasr, Antjie Krog en Asmaa Azaizeh. They sing to, question, taste and release freedom. This sparkling matinee on Sunday afternoon, 19 January 2020, in The Hague's Zuiderstrand Theatre also includes performances by theremin player Thorwald Jørgensen, mentalist Timon Krause, violinist Noa Eyl, the Gypsy Academy, Juggling Tango and acrobatic duo Tobit and Jasmijn. The matinee is hosted by Francis Broekhuijsen.

Singer-songwriter, theatre professional, chansonnière, actress, performer, producer and house artist at the Royal Carré Theatre: Wende does it all. After the successful tour of her show MENS (HUMAN) and her own Kaleidoscope Festival,she has been working on a show in London with the Royal Court Theatre. She also plays the role of Connie Palmen in the film adaptation of the book IM. For the New Year's Concert she will perform songs from her existing repertoire and new works from her collaboration with artists such as Marieke Lucas Rijneveld.

Rapper, cabaret artist and actor Fresku is a multi-talent to be proud of! After his self-titled debut album, he was proclaimed the best hip hop artist of the Netherlands. Since then he has released two further successful albums, Maskerade (Masquerade) and Nooit meer terug (Never to Return). He is currently touring his second theatre show, Voordat het te laat is (Before it's Too Late). His trademarks are humour, sincerity and storytelling - a perfect match for this concert.

Sensitive, daring, funny and without limits: Ellen ten Damme feels at home at pop festivals as well as on theatre stages. The energetic singer, musician, writer and actress has been touring her sense-stimulating show Casablanca this season. Luckily she will also make time for a compelling appearance at the Winternachten New Year's Concert. Accompanied on piano, she interprets songs and chansons of a literary bent with her exceptional voice.

The Winternachten New Year's Concert is an initiative of Writers Unlimited in partnership with the Zuiderstrand Theatre. The concert forms the grand finale of the 25th Winternachten International Literature Festival Den Haag. From 15 to 19 January 2020, more than 100 local and international writers, poets and artists will appear at theatres, libraries and schools throughout The Hague.

This program is made possible with contributions from the City of The Hague, the Dutch Literary Foundation, the VSB Fund, Dioraphte, the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, the 1818 Fund and the Lira Fund.

Entry tickets to the New Year's Concert include coat check, pre-show coffee/tea and a post-show drink.

Information

Date and time Sunday 19 January 2020 from 14:30 to 16:15 hrs
Location Zuiderstrandtheater

Line-up

Antjie Krog

(South Africa, 1952) is a poet, writer, academic and a cherished reciter. Her book Country of My Skull (2000, adapted for film in 2004) is a personal account of the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She published her autobiographical memoirs as A Change of Tongue (2003). Krog has won many prizes, including the Hertzog prize in South Africa and the 2018 Gouden Ganzenveer in the Netherlands. An anthology of her poetry was published in Dutch in 2010, titled Hoe zeg je dat (How Do You Say That), and Begging to be Black, the sequel to Country of My Skull and A Change of Tongue.
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Wende

(UK, 1978), is a singer/songwriter, theatre professional, chansonnière, actor, performer, producer and house artist at the Royal Carré Theatre. Wende uses her position to create challenging and groundbreaking projects in which language, technology and genre play different and surprising roles. Her project MENS, for example, is a raw and controversial snapshot of an era featuring electro beats and frank, fragile songs. She has performed at festivals including Down the Rabbit Hole and Into the Great Wide Open. In 2018 she won awards including the Annie M.G. Schmidt Prize and the BUMA NL Award. She and Ramsey Nasr will play the leads in the film verson of Connie Palmen's novel I.M., which will be aired in the spring of 2020. She's currently collaborating with the London Royal Court Theatre on her new show, The Song Project (working title), premiering in 2020.
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Ramsey Nasr

(The Netherlands, 1974) is a poet, writer, actor and director. He made his poetry debut in 2000 with 27 gedichten & Geen lied (27 Poems & No Song). Nasr acts in films and TV series and is a member of the International Theatre Amsterdam ensemble. His stage and screen roles have been awarded multiple times. He also writes theatre pieces, columns, essays and opinon pieces. From 2009 to 2013 he was the Dutch Poet Laureate. In his essay collection De fundamenten (The Fundamentals, 2021), he assesses a corona pandemic-struck nation; Nasr compacter (2021) gathers the best of his poems from a two-decade career. In 2023 he created a series for Dutch TV about objects from his own collections, Dr Nasrs Wunderkammer (Dr. Nasr's Chamber of Wonders).
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Ellen ten Damme

(The Netherlands, 1967) sings, plays music, writes, acts, dances, composes, and has a preference for unconventional artists like Marlene Dietrich, Nina Hagen and Kate Bush. She is a nationally recognized singer (from rock and roll to opera) and actress, and also very successful in Germany. She has appeared in various Dutch films and series and recorded several English-language rock albums. Her Dutch-language album Durf jij? (Do You Dare?) is a collaboration with the writer Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer. She has had international success with soundtracks for TV shows such as Tatort, Caspar the Friendly Ghost and Power Rangers. She has written columns for the Volkskrant daily newspaper and created large musical-theatre shows such as Paris-Berlin, Casablanca and Barock.
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Fresku

(Netherlands, 1986), whose real name is Roy Michael Reymound, is a rapper, actor and cabaret artist. Fresku, which means "cheeky" in Papiamento, made three successful rap albums and, together with producer Teemong, YouTube videos with socially critical messages. In 2016 he debuted as a cabaretier in Welkom bij de Fresku Show (Welcome to the Fresku Show), a musical comedy act about his Antillean-Dutch identity. His 2019 show Voordat het te laat is (Before it's too Late) reveals him as a master storyteller. Fresku also likes to participate in public debate, for example via a video clip in which he makes it clear that too little music by rappers of colour is being played on Dutch public radio; and in the clip Canon he and Arjan Lubach take a stand about the historical Dutch role in colonial trade and slavery.
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Francis Broekhuijsen

(The Netherlands, 1970) is a presenter, producer, actor and voice-over artist specializing in music, literature, arts and culture. After graduating as actor from the Toneelschool Amsterdam he was a member, among others, of the ensemble of the Nationale Toneel. He was a presenter at Amsterdam-based broadcaster AT5 and a radio producer with the KRO on national network NPO Radio 1. He narrates audio books, and was shortlisted for the Storytel Award 2019 for Best Audio Book with his reading of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's novel Grand Hotel Europa. Until last year, he presented on radio station Sublime the daily morning show Sublime Sunrise, the Instagram poetry programme Sublime Smooth and evening show The Sublime Experience. In 2025 he wrote and hosted the tv-series Kringlopen met Francis on regional Dutch broadcaster NH. Broekhuijsen works for Writers Unlimited as festival curator and presenter.

Go to the website of Francis Broekhuijsen
Instagram: @francisbroekhuijsen
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Asmaa Azaizeh

(1985) is a Palestinian poet and essayist who became the first Director of the Mahmoud Darwish Museum in Ramallah in 2012. She currently works as a cultural curator in Haifa. She was born in Lower Galilee, the region in the northern district of Israel and studied English literature and journalism at the University of Haifa. Her first poetry collection, Liwa, was published in Amman in 2011, after she had won the A.M. Qatan Foundation Award. Four years later the collection As The Woman From Lod Bore Me (2015) was published and in 2019 Do Not Believe Me Were I Talk to You About War. Her poetry has been translated into languages including English, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Hebrew and Persian.
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Noa Eyl

(Netherlands, 1988) began playing violin at age 5 under Coosje Wijzenbeek, with whom he studied for 13 years. He attended the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and, together with the Giocondo Quartet, won first prize at the 2003 Princess Christina Competition and third prize at the International Charles Hennen Competition. As a soloist he won prizes at the Iordens Violin Days (in 2000 and 2002) and at the Princes Christina Competition (2006). Although there was every indication that Eyl would succeed in the world of classical music, he spent more of his school time in the jazz division. Eventually he ceased his studies at the conservatory, focused on gypsy music and became a popular player in this scene. Eyl also plays jazz and klezmer. He's is a virtuostic and sensitive violinist, and his lively style adds to the joy of watching him perform.
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Thorwald Jørgensen

(Zaltbommel, 1980) is known as one of the leading classical theremin players in the world. He studied Classical Percussion in Utrecht and Tilburg. As one of few musicians he concentrated on playing the theremin. Thorwald performs as a soloist with orchestras in the Netherlands and abroad. Several international festivals invited him for concerts, such as Music and Beyond (Ottawa), Rio X Harp festival (Rio de Janeiro), Thereminology (Moscow and St. Petersburg), Hands Off (London), Festival Classique (The Hague), Gaudeamus Music Week and the Bach Festival (Dordrecht). A theremin is an electronic musical instrument that is played by varying the distance between the hands and two antennas. The player does not touch the instrument. The theremin was invented in 1919 by Lev Sergejew itsj Termen, better known as Léon Theremin, making it the first analogue synthesizer capable of steplessly changing the pitch.
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Timon Krause

(Germany, 1994) was educated in New Zealand and lives in Amsterdam. As a magic mentalist he visited all continents with his show. After studying cabaret at the Paul van Vliet Academy in The Hague, he is now studying philosophy in Amsterdam. For Krause, magic is the passion of his life. At the age of sixteen he published his first book on the theme of mind reading. He is the 'Best European Mentalist' 2016 and the youngest mind reader who has ever won this title. His career so far includes various live TV performances on national television, theatre tours in Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand, participation in various championships including the World Magic Championships, radio performances, a number of professional publications and almost a decade of experience as a walk-act and stage artist.
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Tobit en Jasmijn

are unicycle and aerial acrobats who perform worldwide in circusses and at events or festivals performing a wide variety of breathtaking acts. Such as Playtime, a playful and joyful act with a unicycle and a skipping rope; Walking in the Air, a romantic journey high up in the air or True Hearts, a musical pas de deux on a unicycle.
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Juggling Tango

by Emily and Menno van Dyke, is an expression of their own extraordinary life story. The French ballerina and the award winning juggler from Amsterdam met each other between the Eiffel Tower and Champs-Elysées. A fusion of tango and juggling, presented with breathtaking precision to the music of Astor Piazzolla, is the result of their artistic collaboration. When clubs, balls and legs start swirling through the air, a beautifully choreographed display unfolds. High tempo juggling skills meet with the elegance and passion of the tango. A truly one of a kind act that has garnered Emily and Menno worldwide acclaim for over 10 years. Juggling Tango has been featured at some of the finest circuses and variety stages in Europe, Asia and the U.S., and has won numerous awards at international festivals. Including a Silver Elephant in Moscow, Gold Medals in France and the Oscar Carré Trophy.
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Gypsy Academy

The Gypsy Academy is officially called 'The International Children's Academy for Authentic Gypsy and Folk Music in The Hague'. Founded in October 2009, the Gypsy Academy was led by Herr Martin Schaefer, the inspiring gypsy and folk music specialist from Switzerland who enchants parents and children with his music, and teacher Stieneke. The Academy consists of children from 6 to 11 years old who have violin lessons according to the Suzuki method. Since 2018 (former Suzuki pupil) Annemarie van Prooijen and violinist Noa Eyl are at the helm. The Gypsy Academy has an appealing repertoire: Romanian and Hungarian top hits such as the beloved bird imitation, the famous Arabic Yasmina, the Israeli Mazzeltov, the Greek Milise Mou and Irish and Swedish fiddle music.
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