Coming of Age (2023)
A theatrical and musical performance about the beauty of older voices and our need to (continue to) hear them.
Three older female singers (70+) have to reinvent themselves after a life on the stage. They go on a quest to find out what they have to offer nów, to show the beauty in their voices on which life left its mark. A humorous take on the position of women, the empowerment of older people and our focus on perfection.
Created with, and based on the personal stories of singers Elena Vink, Lucia Meeuwsen, Hebe Dijkstra and pianist Andrea Vasi.
Team:
- Lucia Meeuwsen, Elena Vink, Hebe Dijkstra | voice
- Andrea Vasi | piano
- Cora Burggraaf | concept, script, staging
- Lisanne Bovee | scenography
- Ira Judkovskaja | dramaturgy and artistic advice
- Desiree van Gelderen | lighting design
- Stef Koenis | finance management and production
- Maarten Hietbrink | technical support
- Larisa Wiegant | graphic design
Music by:
Schumann, Mozart, Berio, Poulenc, Bob Zimmerman, Ligeti and Weill, a.o.
Proverbs (2023)
A staged concert around American music from the 20th and 21st century, linked with texts from American writers. After the Second World War, the avant-garde gained momentum mostly in America because of composers such as John Cage. A lot of these composers used religion or spirituality as an underlying philosophy in their work.
In this staged concert, the audience was given little stones to particate in the performed rituals. These rituals, the added texts and the staging turned the concert into a unity with an organic arch.
Performed by Score Collective and vocal students from the Conservatoire of Amsterdam.
Caleidoscope (2023)
A staged concert of different scenes.
Can you turn a mishmash of different aria’s and songs into scenes with clear characters and a storyline? Yes! By using the connecting themes and cleverly placed clues and props, this performance ended up a feist of variety and colourfulness.
Performed by vocal students of the Conservatoire of Utrecht and pianists Felix Justin and Viktoria Gavrilchenko.
The Music is Present (ongoing)
Inspired by The Artist is Present by Marina Abramovich.
Two chairs stand in front of the grand piano. I sit on one of them, and on the other you could sit. Or anyone else one from the audience. I’ll sing for you personally, even though the audience is watching. This is music in its purest form: direct communication.
Audience responses:
‘What a beautiful voice, it makes me happy and emotional. It really hits home. Definitely worth repeating!’
‘Such fun and so intense to be sung to like this.’
‘It was the most moving experience in ages.’
Many returns – an hour around Per Nørgard (2022)
A staged concert around the life and work of composer Per Nørgard, who turned 90 in 2022. His compositions, view on life, quirkiness and his love for kites – this all found its way into this performance.
Performed by Score Collective and vocal students from the Conservatoire of Amsterdam.
Inner Voice (2021)
A monologue intérieure and exterieure about the extraordinary life choices of Elsa Diepenbrock (1868-1939), wife of composer Alphons Diepenbrock.
The piece is a dialogue between two voices – voices that speak and sing, that ask and answer. They seem to belong to two different people, but after a while the voices seem to blend into one. A story about how we relate to others – can we fully understand and know what drives other people? And can we understand why sometimes people chose to fall silent and not make themselves understood and heard?
Inspired by the book Cécile and Elsa, Strijdbare freules by Elisabeth Leijnse.
Performed by Cora Burggraaf and pianist Hans Eijsackers.
Team:
- Cora Burggraaf | voice, concept, text
- Hans Eijsackers | piano
- Rob Strolenberg | audio recording
- Annechien Koerselman | final staging
- Katharina Smets, Bert Luppes, Jetse Batelaan, Matijs Jansen | artistic advice
- Wout van Tongeren | dramaturgic advice
- Stef Koenis | production
- Larisa Wiegant | graphic design
Music by:
Diepenbrock, Mahler, Vermeulen, Debussy, Bizet a.o.
Song Books (2021)
Using John Cage’s playful and theatrical Song Books as the glue that holds it all together, this staged concert combines many songs from the 20th Century by composers such as Louis Andriessen and Luciano Berio.
Expect roller blades, black birds, toy cars, paint brushes, and much more.
Performed by Score Collective and vocal students from the Conservatoire of Amsterdam.
Dag Anna (2020)
A theatrical and musical performance about the life of pianist and composer Anna Stibbe. She’s forgotten – and she wouldn’t have mind it I think, as she’s done her best to disappear. Being humble, I am not sure she would have liked the idea that a concert hall now bears her name. Yes, a hall in an elderly home for artists and performers is named after her, though no-one remembers really who she was. It’s pretty much the only thing that proves she once existed.
But she lived in my street and walked the streets I walk, so surely there must be something that remains of her? And these old artists and performers who come to the Anna Stibbe-zaal, what do they want to be remembered for? Or would they be happy to be forgotten?
Created for the opening of the Anna Stibbe Zaal, Rosa Spier Huis – cancelled because of covid regulations.
Bloot zijn en beginnen (2018)
A simply staged concert with a narrative around the book ‘De wonderen van de heilbot’ by the wonderful Dutch writer Oek de Jong. This collection of diary entries capture reflections on the creative process – what it means to create something of words, clay or your life. It describes the different phases of this process: from the first idea, the doubts and failure, to the joy of fulfillment. I arranged the text fragments into the form of a cycle, and coupled them to an eclectic array of songs that mirror this creative cycle.
- Oek de Jong | texts
- Cora Burggraaf | concept, script, voice
- Lex Bohlmeijer | narrator
- Ed Spanjaard | piano
Miroir de peine et d’amour (2018)
A staged concert in which a monologue accompanies Hendrik Andriessen’s Miroir de peine, on poems by Henri Ghéon. Miroir de peine gives voice to the anguish of Virgin Mary when Jesus died. The monologue Miroir de peine et d’amour recounts the special bond that Ghéon himself had to his mother, the dramatic event that made him loose his faith and how art made him believe again, but… in what?
Created for Festival Boulevard, performed by Cora Burggraaf and Annelies Focquart (harmonium).