Acoustical paradise

Following the success of the Shetetl Band Amsterdam concert last Monday afternoon, performing arts manager, Tineke Grootenboer, spills with enthusiasm about her favorite place on campus– the open air theater. ‘I liked the klezmer music because it is both sad and happy– all at once, and for most people, it was a matter of humming along to the melody and enjoying the perfect weather.’
 
For over four decades, the UT’s Cultural Department has offered lunch performance called Broodje Cultuur by Dutch natives and those in the know.  A few years back, Grootenboer decided to move the last four venues of the cultural season to the open air theater when she started to notice attendance dropped during the months of May and June. ‘The sun was in the sky,’ she says, ‘and students wanted to be outside. It was a logical choice.’

In 1965, only a few years after the campus was constructed, the open air theater was built. ‘During that summer,’ says Grootenboer, ‘the first summer performances took place and much later it was renovated in 1995. The outdoor theater can accommodate 500 spectators or a tight squeeze of 600 if everyone really sits close to together.
 
Styled like most outdoor Greek and Roman amphitheaters with stone seating in a circle, the theater on campus is no exception to ancient tradition and offers a different listening experience then inside. ’The acoustics are amazing and often the birds start to whistle with you! I find it hard to choose which experience is better. I love the special atmosphere of a dark theater, but also the carefree mood of an outdoor theater gives a feeling of being away on a holiday for one hour,’ says Grootenboer, who secures performers and designs the cultural season schedule each year. Her main ethos: ‘If the students don’t get excited about a performer then I do not book the act.’
 

The Bride’s Waltz was the first in a series of Monday afternoon concerts at the open air theater on campus. The Shetetl Band Amsterdam earned high marks and was rated a 4.4  based on a 1-5  scale by audience members.
 
The Overijssel region hosts 14 open air theaters, offering productions and outdoor events to the general public. The UT amphitheater is listed by the organization ‘Under the Green Heavens,’ known in Dutch as Onder de groene hemel and was started in 2009 to support art and culture in the region.
 
Any changes in the venue due to inclement weather are posted online on Monday mornings. Grootenboer recalls a nerve-wrecking moment when the weather was questionable last year to hold a performance. ‘At one performance of last open air season, the sky looked really threatening, so I asked two staff members to sit in the front row with a folded plastic sheet and instructed them to “spring into action” to cover the piano when they felt the first drop of rain. We weren’t sure which way the weather would turn and had to protect the piano, if it started to rain,’ she remembers.
 
In addition to the acoustical pleasures only found in nature, Sodexo caterers sell soft drinks on location, before and after each performance which gives people the opportunity to mingle and chat. Advanced tickets can be purchased at cultuur.utwente.nl. ‘But it’s not necessary,’ explains Grootenboer, ‘you can just come to the open air theater location before the start of the performance to buy a ticket. One item you do need to bring, if you’re hungry, is a lekkere sandwich.’  
 
The next three performances lined up at the open air theater brings music from most corners of the world on stage. Missed the heady klezmer music of the Shetetl Band Amsterdam last Monday? Then catch the following outdoor performances held on every Monday in May at 12:35pm to 1:30pm.
 
Pompu delights
Pianist Marcel Worms plays mainly an anthology from the earlier works of the Catalan composer Fedrico Mompu. Listen in to his mystical, plain and fragile special harmonies influenced by Debussy and Fauré.
 
Ceumar & Krasz Collective
The Brazilian singer-songwriter Ceumar, recognized as one of the pearls of the ‘Música Popular do Brasil’, combines Brazilian folk music with influences from pop, jazz and samba.
 
Polder Balkan
The Amariszi band brings a little bit of tradition, a pinch of ska and a large portion polder Blakans on stage.

Robbin Engels

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