Below you can look back at the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht in past years. Do you have questions about a specific programme or about a festival edition not mentioned here? Then please contact us at [email protected] or +31 30 232 9000 (Mon-Fri, 10-16).
The theme of 2025 was Museumkunst? Museumkunst refers to cultural expressions that have entered the canon: masterpieces that fully deserve to be preserved, protected, and passed on to new generations. But the term is sometimes used mockingly. Museumkunst can also refer to outdated art that, while it may be conserved, has in fact lost its relevance in contemporary society — art in which the fire has gone out. Much of the art music of past centuries was functional music. Today, little remains of that original function. Religious music is relocated to the secular concert hall. Music with political purposes is neutralized into background music. As an early music festival, we do much the same as museums: we detach cultural expressions from their original environment and place them in a new context, with a new purpose: to let people experience beauty. But can we truly do this without consequence? Are we not cutting off the lifeblood of the music? Or is it more complex?
Artist in residence were Jean Rondeau, La Fonte Musica, and Stile Antico.
Seville was be the theme in 2024. With the music of Morales, Guerrero and Peñalosa as core repertoire, we create a rare opportunity to hear a substantial chunk of Spanish polyphony. With artist in residence Música Temprana by Dutch-Argentinian Adrián Rodríguez van der Spoel, we delve into the South American mixed baroque in which folk music and music of the conqueror often forcibly converge. Middle Eastern expert Koert Debeuf argues that the Renaissance, which we consider the pinnacle of Western culture, actually originated in Baghdad and conquered the European continent via Al-Andalus.
Artists-in-residence were Música Temprana and Cantoría.
With the festival theme Revival, we zoom in on early music as both heritage and legacy of the movement that from the nineteenth century onwards unleashed the resurgence of historical repertoires, instruments, and interpretation. The past can be beautiful, it can offer an escape from the drudgery of everyday life and it can make us dream. It is also a powerful propaganda tool to legitimise ideologies, be they nostalgic or progressive. This is why, in this festival edition, we look through different lenses: to better understand today's world through the past.
Artists-in-residence were La Tempête & Simon-Pierre Bestion and Michael Hell.
With the apparently frivolous festival theme Galanterie we explore the refinement of eighteenth-century Rococo. This originated in France and spread throughout Europe with its new sense of life: light and free.However, the concept of galant is much older. It takes us back to the medieval amour courtois and the ideal courtier from the Renaissance. This invites a broad programming in which, together with co-curator Rosi Braidotti, we explore aspects such as social codes and good manners, from a cultural-historical perspective, past and present. So this festival, as always, dives into the past to see ourselves and each other in the mirror and – who knows – to understand both a little better.
The Netherlands Bach Society was artist-in-residence.
It is well known that Renaissance and Baroque music harks back to the rhetoric of classical antiquity. This bond is the central starting point for the post-war Early Music movement. This festival is dedicated to rhetorical gestures of any kind: vocal, instrumental, physical, musical, spoken and sung. The notes are not meant for enjoyment but for their emotional impact. And perhaps only one question is of decisive importance: is the musical speech we hear convincing or not?
Eva Saladin and Ensemble Correspondances, with Sébastien Daucé, were artist-in-residence.
The alternative Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht 2020 was the most intimate edition in the history of the festival. This alternative online/offline edition with 160 live concerts by Dutch musicians and 21 livestreams was programmed in a short period of time after the cancellation of the regular festival programme as a result of the corona crisis. Unlike the annual festival, the programme took place not only in Utrecht, but also in ten other Dutch cities.
The most delicious cuisine in Italy, the most beautiful bay in Europe, a heavenly spot. But also: traffic chaos, refuse wars and organized crime. Naples is sometimes portrayed in harsh terms. Neapolitans themselves describe their city as a place of a thousand contradictions, and as a beautiful woman with dirty feet. The very least that can be said of Naples is that life is lived passionately there, in bright colours and with intense emotions.
Artists-in-residence were Marco Mencoboni and Giulio Prandi.
The true statement of this Festival was embodied by the Festival’s focus on the neglected 14th and 15th centuries, the era of the four dukes of Burgundy. Their art-loving court became the cradle of the Franco-Flemish polyphony which gained prominence throughout Europe. Hence in this Festival no great names of the 16th century – Palestrina, Lassus and De Monte – but with hitherto unloved 15th-century composers such as Grenon, Tapissier and Vide.
Les richesses de Bourgogne: we offered an exceptionally varied programme which aimed to put rigid conventions to challenge. This is what, even after 37 editions, kept us young! À votre santé!
Björn Schmelzer was co-curator.
The 36th festival was dedicated to music of the Reformations. 2017 marked exactly 500 years since Luther nailed his 95 theses on indulgences to the doors of Wittenberg Castle Church - the university noticeboard in those days. The meteoric spread of his messages - via printing and later music - set in motion a revolutionary machine whose radius of action extended far beyond religion alone. With some delay, a no less innovative counter-movement developed: the Counter-Reformation.
Lorenzo Ghielmi and Katharina Bäuml were artist-in-residence.
The theme of the 35th festival was La Serenissima. The Republic of Venice, with its open view of the Levant, has always been a breeding ground for innovative music. That music then found its way all over Europe. This is not so strange: the art of music printing was developed in Venice in the early 16th century, allowing music to be distributed on a much larger scale. Venice became a hub not only for merchandise, but also for music.
Gli Angeli Genève and Olga Pashchenko were artist-in-residence.
The theme of the 34th festival was England, my England. Beloved English music was curiously held up to the light with an emphasis on the Renaissance and early Baroque. The festival presented series on Tudor polyphony (Sheppard, Taverner, Tye), Elizabethan virginalists (Bull, Gibbons, Farnaby, Byrd) and sweet consort music (Lawes, Jenkins and Tomkins). Henry Purcell also played an important role and attention was paid to Handel's lesser-known contemporaries such as Bononcini, Avison and Boyce under the slogan 'Out of Handel's shadow'. Artist-in-residence was Vox Luminis.
In 2014 the festival theme focussed on the Habsburg dynasty. For centuries, the Austrian Habsburgs ruled large parts of Central Europe, with Vienna as their main seat of power. The region, which may have a rather sleepy reputation nowadays, was the artistic focal point of Europe for a very long period of time. This was primarily fuelled by the power politics of the art- and music-loving Habsburgs.
Artists-in-residence were Ars Antiqua Austria and Collegium 1704.
2013 marks the third centenary of the Treaty of Utrecht. The Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht joined in with a musical feast that reflects upon European issues in its own unique way. 1713 is not the topic of this festival; rather, the underlying European problem of unity in diversity. Four composers guide us on our way – Ciconia, Lassus, Froberger and Muffat; all of them European travellers. However, this festival is also a tribute to the many other globetrotting musicians who wove a fascinating web of migrating musical styles, thus transforming the European map into a colourful swirl of shifting arrows.
Artist in residence was Huelgas Ensemble with Paul van Nevel.
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