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Music Bridge Event

24 May 2025, Amsterdam

Over the past two years, the Dutch Institute in Saint Petersburg (NIP) as the representative of six Dutch universities has had to adjust its activities. With no visits from the Dutch students and researchers possible, we try to focus on online activities. Nonetheless, supporting and enriching of Russian Studies programs at the Dutch universities continue to be the main function of the NIP. In addition, the NIP serves as a social and cultural bridge, providing a space for the Dutch Slavists and experts on Russian studies network. That is why the NIP regularly organizes events in the Netherlands in collaboration with the Dutch universities. Our upcoming event, Music Bridge, will take place in Amsterdam on Saturday, 24 May 2025. We invite you to explore music — a universal language that brings people together without words. The evening will feature an academic lecture, a workshop, and a concert with independent musicians from the Netherlands and Russia.

Program of the event

13:30 Doors open

13:50 Welcome address by Olga Ovechkina, Director of NIP

14:00 Lecture: New music between modernist traditions and hyperreality

Dr. Maarten Beirens (UvA) will deliver a lecture exploring some recent evolutions in contemporary music and examining how present-day composers are rethinking traditional musical tools and the heritage of the modernist tradition in response to the shifting cultural patterns and new modes of audience engagement in the 21st century.

followed by workshop: Bringing Arrangements to Life

Anton Boiarskikh (trombone), Vitaly Golovnev (trumpet) and Iman Spaargaren (tenor saxophone) will demonstrate how arrangements are applied in practice, using selected pieces from modern music as their guide. 

This workshop is designed for current music performance students and recent alumni.

16:00 Coffee break

16:30 Concert

The concert will feature original compositions created by the musicians exclusively for Music Bridge. International team of artists deeply inspired by each other's creative energy will weave a unified artistic expression in the moment of performance — this is jazz at its core. A language, a universal form of connection and a bridge between time and space.

Performers:

Anton Boiarskikh, trombone

Guillermo Celano, guitar

Vitaly Golovnev, trumpet

Hendrik Müller, double bass

Iman Spaargaren, tenor saxophone

Nick Thessalonikefs, drums

17:30-18:30 Networking reception

When: 24 May 2025, 13:30-18:30

Where: De Balie, Amsterdam (Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10)

For whom: Students, researchers and alumni of Russian Studies; musicologists; NIP network members

Language: English