Currents & Contrasts
11 – 17 April 2026
Saturday 11 April
To Amsterdam by train
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw • Stanislav Kochanovsky led the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme juxtaposing two hypnotic contemporary works with a towering 20th-century landmark, Stravinsky’s Petrushka. Lera Auerbach’s Icarus, with its eerie theremin part, proved an apt curtain-raiser. Daniel Wohl’s Lighthouse, a piano concerto performed with conviction by Francesco Tristano, seemed to reach for a synthesis of various currents in contemporary music. It filled the hall with a rhythmic, unusual yet captivating blend of electronics and traditional instruments. Kochanovsky offered a few illuminating remarks before the concert, an initiative more conductors might usefully adopt.
Amsterdam, DeLaMar Theatre • A production of the musical Hairspray, whose only shortcoming may have been its reduced orchestra, delivered a thoroughly entertaining evening. The versatility of the non-replica staging excelled at streamlining transitions that even the original production struggled with, while the cast delivered warm, spot-on characterisations across the board. Halfway through the performance, I had a small epiphany: most characters bear alliterative names — Tracy Turnblad (TT), Motormouth Maybelle (MM), etc. How had I never noticed that before?
Sunday 12 April
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw • The regional orchestra Philzuid’s Sunday morning concert paired Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Haydn’s Symphony No. 82, “The Bear.” The concerto, played by the Storioni Trio, did little to deepen my interest in this work — I’m sure it will come eventually — whereas the symphony, energetically conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang, proved all the more delightful as my expectations were low.
Amsterdam, Concertgebouw • Aurel Dawidiuk led the Concertgebouworkest in a programme bracketing Poulenc’s too seldom performed Organ Concerto (1938) between two emblematic works of the late 19th-century repertoire: Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. The concerto, expertly performed by Leo van Doeselaar, highlighted Poulenc’s familiar blend of quasi-liturgical chiaroscuro harmonies and breathless rhythmic episodes — an underrated masterpiece by an underrated composer.
Back to Paris by train
Monday 13 April
Paris, Philharmonie • Daniel Harding led the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, played by Igor Levit, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Despite being a fan of Levit, I found his analytical, almost Jansenist approach at odds with the orchestra’s shimmering expansiveness — qualities that, by contrast, lent Elgar’s masterpiece a glowing, polychromatic reading that left the audience almost panting before such beauty.
Wednesday 15 April
Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées • The Ballet BC (as in British Columbia) offered a triple bill of contemporary ballets, by Crystal Pite, Mehdi Walerski and Johan Inger, all performed in France for the first time. The first two suffered from “Contemporary Ballet Syndrome,” rehashing clichéd movements and atmospheres and leaving a strong sense of déjà vu. Inger’s Passing, by contrast, proved far more original and rewarding: its somewhat wacky narrative unfolded with gleeful abandon until, sadly, snow began to fall from the flies, at which point it felt as though the well of inspiration had run dry.
Friday 17 April
Paris, Petit-Montparnasse • I was a little too young to remember the 1973 hijacking of an Air France plane by a 35-year-old woman who sought to block the release of Gérard Oury’s film Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob, starring Louis de Funès, which she feared would jeopardise the chances of peace in the Middle East. Jean-Philippe Daguerre chose to draw on that episode for a mildly entertaining 90-minute play, La Femme qui n’aimait pas Rabbi Jacob, retracing the chain of events leading up to the incident, while also offering a somewhat troubling perspective on the police response. The production’s main asset lay in its striking set design built around nine highly versatile screens.
And so, for now, the lights dim… until the next act.