Friday, December 19, 2014

Free Lunchtime Concerts in Amsterdam, Part 1: The National Ballet and Opera

Amsterdam has some pretty amazing things to offer residents and guests alike, as a resident one thing I have been enjoying a few times are month are the free lunch time concerts offered at the National Ballet and Opera on Tuesdays and at the Concertgebouw on Wednesdays!

I'm going to talk about these in two parts, the first being the Tuesday concerts at the National Ballet and Opera!

Normally I go with a friend of mine who is also a housewife/stay at home mom while our kids are in school. But, since the kiddo started Christmas break this week I thought I would take her along. Due to traveling my friend and her kids couldn't make it sadly, but we still had a wonderful time.

This past Tuesday's concert at The National Ballet and Opera, the performers did Christmas Carols! It was super fun and the flutist was amazing (so were the singers, but the one woman I particularly loved I do not know her name).

Here is a break down of who was who from the programme:

  • Oleksandra Lenyshyn, Soprano
  • Marieke Reuten, Alto
  • Francois Soons, Tenor
  • Ian Spencer, Bass
  • Carole Spencer, Fluit
  • Brian Fieldhouse, piano

(again, I hope I got all of those correct, I am pretty sure I did as the print looks much like the English words just some letters switch around or left off ;))

It was a packed house as you can see.

In front of me people were sitting on the stairs and a number of people were standing behind us as well.

A snippet of Jingle Bells.



The performance of Let It Snow. In love with the flute.

These concerts are almost always full. People young and old, people on their lunch breaks, and crazy housewives like us looking to do something different with their day show up at these concerts. It is so funny I had a guy stop me the other day to chat about a lunch performance the previous week because he recognized my coat! Going to these events really gets you involved in the community so they are well worth it. If you go watch one make sure you check out the person who goes and sketches each performance! Amazing!

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