Synchromie Muziek presents there is no place for me on this map, a piano recital by Dutch composer and pianist Dante Boon at SoundHouse Den Haag.
In his first collaboration with Synchromie, Boon brings together six works written in the last decade, including four world premieres, alongside music by Elisabeth Lutyens from 1962.
The programme moves between musical systems and personal experience: algorithmic composition, serialism, remembrance, friendship and departure. A tribute to composer Clarence Barlow and music marking a friend’s departure from the Netherlands sit alongside a nocturne written for pianist Beth Levin. “SoundHouse is meant to be a place where adventurous music can feel personal and immediate.” says Synchromie Muziek director Elizabeth Huston. “Dante’s programme is exactly the kind of work we want to make space for: music that takes risks, but is also rooted in friendship, memory, and real human experience.”
Presented in SoundHouse’s intimate setting, the evening offers listeners a chance to encounter new piano repertoire at its first public hearing.
From the solid guitar rock of The Velcro at the Proeflokaal to nocturnal poetry at The Grey Space: for the fourth year in a row, The Hague city centre was filled with music on Monday evening during PrinsjesNach, transcending styles, categories, and generations. With 40 acts at 31 locations, thousands of visitors, and a vibrant atmosphere, it was confirmed that the festival has earned its place as a tradition in the run-up to Prinsjesdag.
On Monday evening, September 14, The Hague city center once again transformed into a free musical pub crawl. From the Noordeinde to the Bierkade, from the Grote Markt to the Hofkwartier, music and spoken word could be heard. From indie pop and jazz to classical, world music, and spoken word. The organizers look back with satisfaction on the annual event.
The evening began with the festive opening at Bar Bistro De Twee Heeren, in the presence of Alderman for Culture Lotte van Basten Batenburg. In keeping with what has now become tradition, she accepted the PrinsjesNach briefcase. “It is fantastic that PrinsjesNach grows every year and allows more people to enjoy The Hague’s rich and diverse music scene,” said the newly appointed alderman. “PrinsjesNach adds color to the city and shows how music can connect. We must all cherish that.”
Among the many performances, NANO, TripKip, drum & brass band The Legendairs, Roos van Herrenwegen, French Kiss, and Yaël Campbell were particularly well-received. The audience in the Oude Molstraat listened breathlessly to an opera singer from the café window, while at the end of the evening, the crowd sang along loudly with Tante Koor in the bicycle parking area on the Papestraat. PrinsjesNach 2026 was concluded in a surprising manner with the NachMis by Scott Beekhuizen, Laurin Nargy, and the Henk & Melle Band.
“Really great fun! The atmosphere on the street, the artists. It was busy everywhere!!” said one of the visitors.
Initiators Sarah de Bruijn, Michael Varekamp, and Lucy Zuiderwijk are already looking forward to the third Monday of September 2027, when PrinsjesNach will take place for the fifth time. Many thanks also go to all the artists, venues, and volunteers who made the evening possible once again.
PrinsjesNach 2026 was made possible in part by the City of The Hague, Sena Performers, hetCultuurfonds, CultuurSchakel, Powered by PAARD/Popradar, the Central Government Real Estate Agency, BIZ Paleis Noordeinde and BIZ Hofkwartier.
In October, Dennis Russell Davies, Jun Märkl and Antony Hermus conduct the Residentie Orkest in masterpieces by Rachmaninoff, Philip Glass, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Tsoupaki, Mahler and Dvořák. The soloists performing at Amare are pianist Maki Namekawa, violinist and artist in residence Stefan Jackiw, and mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj. At the Nieuwe Kerk, musicians from the Residentie Orkest perform works by Haydn, Martin and Dvořák as part of the Close Up series.
Fri 2 Oct, 8.15pm, Amare: RACHMANINOV & GLASS
Under the baton of master conductor Dennis Russell Davies – who has been conducting with passion and finesse for decades and is also the partner of tonight’s pianist – the Residentie Orkest presents compositions in which past and present intertwine. Pianist Maki Namekawa, Philip Glass’s close musical collaborator, is the soloist in the Dutch premiere of Glass’s Mishima Concerto for piano and orchestra, a cinematic and hypnotic journey. The piece grew out of Glass’s soundtrack for the acclaimed film Mishima and is imbued with contemplation, freedom and inner strength. Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, by contrast, embraces memory and longing, with lush strings and playful jazzy accents. Rachmaninoff wrote the symphony after emigrating to the United States, and you can hear the balance between nostalgia for his homeland and an open, energetic outlook towards the future. An evening full of contrast, energy and emotional richness.
The stage is bursting with energy today. Stefan Jackiw, violinist and artist in residence for the 2026/27 season, takes on Tchaikovsky’s exuberant Violin Concerto. A lyrical, demanding and irresistibly expressive work. Tchaikovsky’s only violin concerto calls for total commitment: dancing melodies, dazzling technique and an emotional directness that is in safe hands with Jackiw. Afterwards, chief conductor Jun Märkl continues his great journey through the German Romantic repertoire this season, this time with Richard Strauss’s monumental Ein Heldenleben. An orchestra of more than one hundred musicians, rich colours and an outpouring of energy in every bar: unforgettable. In this work, Strauss openly weaves quotations from his own earlier compositions into the score, as if the hero were looking back on his musical life. The impressive violin solos by concertmaster Wouter Vossen give the heroic figure an inner voice. The result is an overwhelming listening experience in which virtuosity, orchestral grandeur and personal stories converge.
Calliope Tsoupaki – former Composer Laureate of the Netherlands and a close associate of the Residentie Orkest – explores in Falling how we seek to find meaning again in a world that has become unsteady. In Tsoupaki’s Thin Air, we return to a work born of compassion and solidarity. Originally written during the pandemic (and premiered in this orchestral version by the Residentie Orkest), it is so timeless that it may perhaps resonate even more powerfully now than it did then. Mahler turns the emotion inward with one of his best-known song cycles: the Rückert Lieder. Five miniature mirrors in which longing, tranquility, self-examination and melancholy are laid bare without drama. Barbara Kozelj makes the songs almost tangible with her warm, rich mezzo-soprano voice. Dvořák’s fascinating Symphony No. 5 brings the evening to a close not with spectacle, but with sunlight: warm-blooded, playful and dancing. A symphony that smells of grass, earth, sunshine and evening air. This is Dvořák at his most open, most free and most blissful. Conductor Antony Hermus weaves a wonderful, breathing programme between Tsoupaki’s air and Dvořák’s earth.
Saturday’s concert is part of the now much-loved RO NOW series. Before the concert, presenter Sander Zwiep, known from NPO Klassiek, and the orchestra will offer a few short, illuminating examples to open your ears to what is about to come. After the concert, the music continues in the foyer and drinks will be waiting, with the first round on the Residentie Orkest.
Wed 28 Oct, 8.15pm, Nieuwe Kerk: CLOSE UP WITH HAYDN, MARTIN & DVOŘÁK
During Close Up at the Nieuwe Kerk, chamber music comes particularly close: you sit around the musicians, the sound is warm and immediate, and every nuance counts. This edition presents three gems for strings, performed by an ensemble from the Residentie Orkest. The programme unfolds from quartet to sextet, allowing the colours of the string ensemble to become increasingly rich and full. Haydn opens playfully with his famous String Quartet ‘The Joke’, which has been taking audiences by surprise for centuries. Frank Martin’s Pavane couleur du temps is a finely crafted gem: softly pulsating, intimate and clear in tone. Dvořák’s String Sextet brings the evening to a close with a warm-blooded blend of dance rhythms, melancholy and melodic richness. An evening where craftsmanship and imagination come together.
Photos above: Maki Namekawa, Stefan Jackiw en Barbara Kozelj
VoxTechnik brings a live experience like never before to The Hague. During this 2.5-hour live show, the 1980s are reborn in a unique way. The four-piece live band plays exclusively 80s synth-pop, supported by compelling visuals projected onto a large circular screen. You will not only hear the original vocalists, but also see them!
This spectacle is accompanied by the fifth band member, the frontman: VoxTechnik, a robot created for one purpose only: to recreate “The Future of the Past.” The Hague is inextricably linked to Italo disco, making it the perfect place to premiere this unique show!
Internationally acclaimed solo performance combines Bach’s First Cello Suite with comedy, storytelling, and an existential crisis
What happens when an accomplished classical cellist abandons the expected formality of the recital stage and lets her inner clown take over?
On Saturday, September 19, Los Angeles-based cellist, actor, and clown Karen Hall brings her award-winning solo show, Delusions and Grandeur, to SoundHouse Den Haag for one performance only.
Part classical recital and part theatrical investigation, Delusions and Grandeur combines J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello with physical comedy and deeply personal storytelling. Hall gradually peels away the conventions surrounding classical performance to examine ambition, artistic identity, self-doubt, success, and the sacrifices demanded by mastery.
The result is a performance that moves freely between virtuosity and absurdity, asking what remains when an artist is separated from the instrument, expectations, and professional identity that have shaped her life.
Described by Australian Arts Review as “as irreverent as it is poignant,” the production has toured internationally and received the Outstanding Theatre Award at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Adelaide Fringe Judges’ Weekly Award for Best in Music, and Stage Raw’s award for Best Solo Performance in Los Angeles Theatre.
“Karen Hall’s work is exactly the kind of performance we want to bring to SoundHouse,” says Elizabeth Huston of Synchromie Muziek. “It is technically excellent, deeply human, and impossible to fit neatly into a single category. Classical musicians will recognize the world she is questioning, but the show is equally accessible to people who have never attended a cello recital.”
Event Information
Event:Delusions and Grandeur Artist: Karen Hall Presented by: SoundHouse Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026 Time: 14:00-15:00 Venue: SoundHouse Den Haag Address:De Constant Rebecqueplein 20B, 2518 RA Den Haag Tickets: €20 general admission; €10 for students and SoundHouse members Tickets and information:Eventbrite Venue information:SoundHouse Den Haag
About Karen Hall
Karen Hall is a professional cellist, educator, actor, and clown based in Los Angeles. Her career has taken her from Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl to television and recording studios. She appeared on camera as the cellist on the television series Glee for four seasons and has contributed to recordings ranging from independent albums to soundtracks for Emmy-nominated productions.
Hall has performed with symphony orchestras throughout greater Los Angeles and worked with artists including Shawn Mendes, Geoff Emerick, and Yoshiki. Her solo production, Delusions and Grandeur, brings together her classical training and work in clowning, improvisation, and physical theatre. The show has toured internationally to critical acclaim, including performances at the Edinburgh, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Hollywood, and San Diego fringe festivals.
About SoundHouse Den Haag
SoundHouse is a musician-run venue in The Hague’s Energiekwartier. Located within the DCR creative complex, it provides a home for independent artists whose work crosses genres and disciplines. SoundHouse presents concerts, workshops, research, residencies, and experimental performances in an intimate setting designed to encourage meaningful exchange between artists and audiences.
More than three decades after performing at PAARD in 1992, The Lemonheads return to The Hague on Sunday 18 October 2026.
The Lemonheads are one of the most loved and influential bands of 1990s alternative rock, known for Evan Dando’s warm vocals, melodic songwriting and laidback style. Songs including Into Your Arms and If I Could Talk I’d Tell You, together with their famous cover of Mrs. Robinson, helped establish their distinctive mix of power pop, melancholy and slacker rock.
The band return this autumn with Love Chant, their first album of new, original material in almost twenty years. Much of the album was recorded in Brazil and combines the melodic sound associated with The Lemonheads with new collaborations and influences.
For their PAARD show, the band will mix classic tracks with songs from the new album. Support comes from Dutch psychedelic rock quartet Anemone.
