Today the Grachtenfestival starts, around 150 performances will be played on special locations. One of the performances I’m looking out for is on Wednesday, August 18, when Handel’s Water Music will be played from little ships in the water of Keizersgracht. For Amsterdam it’s a world premiere since this piece has never been played that way before. Also Keizersgracht is fitting for this piece of music, it’s one of the widest canals in the city.
Next to that it’s the first Day of Hearts [Hartjesdagen] on Zeedijk, one of the highlights today will be the OPE-RA-am performances. A raam is a window, and ope stands for for open, so in a way opera is being sung from open windows. Also the drag queens and kings will be out fighting for the title Heart of Zeedijk. More history on this fest for the people here.
