Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: "Music Building on the IJ") is the main concert hall for contemporary classical music on the IJ in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The building opened in 2005 and is located above the

IJtunnel The IJtunnel, opened on 30 October 1968, is an automobile tunnel under the IJ that connects the centre of Amsterdam with Amsterdam-Noord. The tunnel is part of a route across Amsterdam that connects the Ringweg North with the Ringweg South ne ...

, a ten-minute walk from

Amsterdam Centraal Amsterdam Centraal Station ( nl, italic=no, Station Amsterdam Centraal ; abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passengers a day, ...

station. The building was designed by Danish architects 3XN. The Bimhuis is part of and partly integrated in the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ.

Background

Before the Muziekgebouw there was Muziekcentrum de IJsbreker located at the Weesperzijde that got shut down and replaced by the Muziekgebouw. Just like the IJsbreker the venue primarily focuses on contemporary classical music, while the Bimhuis is mainly focused on contemporary jazz music. Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ has one big concert space, but also a smaller one that is also used for conferences, talk, exhibitions. Also concerts take place at various other locations in the building such as the atrium and on the three large balconies above the restaurant. Often expositions of installations and

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

are programmed as well. Yearly the World Minimal Music Festival and

Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archit ...

takes place in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. There is a monthly cross-over event called The Rest is Noise that involves experimental pop music in the agenda of the venue. The first main and artistic director was Jan Wolff (2005–2008); Tino Haenen has been artistic director since June 2008. Haenen was previously director of the Belgian contemporary music festival Ars Musica. Since December 1, 2008 Boudewijn Berentsen is the main director, while Haenen stayed the artistic director. Since February 2012 Haenen is followed up by Maarten van Boven, formerly the vice-director of Paradiso.

Education

IJsbreker was a pioneering organization in the field of education about experimental music for children. Originally named the Klankspeeltuin ('Sound playground') the education centre had a collection of interactive

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

s. Muziekgebouw continued the activity of the IJsbreker with a newly build collection and has an active education programme for children and teenagers. Over 400 workshops per year are held there, and is the biggest in Europe on this educational front. The Klankspeeltuin consists of a space filled with unique custom build

experimental musical instrument An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modi ...

s. Around 2016 the old collection became outdated and suffered from a lot of technical flaws and the team decided to renew the complete collection and replace if for smaller hands on instruments, instead of interactive installations. With this equipment the organisation also runs events on location. Also it is not only focused on children and teenagers anymore, but also gives more elaborate multiple day workshops for older people/students. For this project they approached a team of inventors to build a unique collection of

s for them. In June 2017 the Klankspeeltuin was renamed as the Sound Lab and currently owns 100 different instruments ranging from a series of ethnic instruments from all over the world to known odd instruments such as the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

and the steel tongue drum to more unique designs by builders such as

Yuri Landman Yuri Landman (born 1 February 1973) is a Dutch inventor of musical instruments and musician who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a number of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japan ...

, Arvid Jense, Diane Verdonk, Dato Instruments,

Makey Makey Makey Makey: An Invention Kit for Everyone is an invention kit designed to connect everyday objects to computer keys. Using a circuit board, alligator clips, and a USB cable, the toy uses closed loop electrical signals to send the computer eithe ...

, and others. Current director of the Sound Lab is Anouk Diepenbroek.

Fokker Organ

Inside the Bamzaal there is also the

microtonal Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones— intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of t ...

31-TET In music, 31 equal temperament, 31-ET, which can also be abbreviated 31-TET (31 tone ET) or 31-EDO (equal division of the octave), also known as tricesimoprimal, is the tempered scale derived by dividing the octave into 31 equal-sized steps (equa ...

Fokker organ, designed by

Adriaan Fokker Adriaan Daniël Fokker (; 17 August 1887 – 24 September 1972) was a Dutch physicist. He worked in the fields of special relativity and statistical mechanics. He was the inventor of the Fokker organ, a 31-tone equal-tempered (31-TET) organ. ...

. Regularly concerts take place on this organ.

Offices

It houses the

, Stichting Huygens-Fokker, Slagwerk Den Haag as well as many other Dutch music organisations. It also hosted some events of the 17th edition of the

Sonic Acts Sonic Acts is an organisation for the research, development and production of works at the intersection of art, science and theory. It also commissions and co-produces new works, often in collaboration with international festivals, arts organisati ...

Festival, in 2017. Image:Muziekgebouw amsterdam.jpg, The Muziekgebouw and Bimhuis at night Image:Interieur grote zaal Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ.jpg, Interior Image:Pieter wispelwey cellist and Dejan Lazic by Fai Ho 30 januari 2007.jpg, A concert by cellist Pieter Wispelwey Image:Buildings in water.jpg, View from the water on the Muziekgebouw and Passenger Terminal Amsterdam

Architecture prizes

The building has received several prizes: * The Grand Jury Piewie Prize (2006) * Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence, category Europe (2006) * Ballekes in tomat

References

External links

Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
(official website)
Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
(official website)
Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
at Google 3D Warehouse {{Coord, 52, 22, 41.30, N, 4, 54, 46.80, E, region:NL_type:landmark, display=title Concert halls in Amsterdam Music venues in the Netherlands 3XN buildings Amsterdam-Oost