Amsterdam Things to Do Tips by Nemorino

An orchestra concert Concertgebouw Review

The concert I attended in the large hall of the Concertgebouw was by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest) which by coincidence was conducted by Yakov Kreizberg (1959-2011), whom I had seen twice before in a much less formal setting when he was conducting open-air opera performances in the courtyard of Weikersheim Castle in the summers of 2003 and 2005.

In the Concertgebouw concert, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra played a Beethoven piano concerto with a young pianist named Jonathan Biss, and then Schubert's Ninth Symphony, D944.

If by any chance you are 27 years old or younger, you can go to the box office 45 minutes before starting time and get yourself a Sprint Seat for that evening's concert for only 7 Euros (assuming it isn't sold out).

Second photo: Orchestra and audience.

Third photo: The large hall of the Concertgebouw during the intermission.

Address: Concertgebouwplein 2 - 6

Directions: From the Central Station: Tram 2, 5, 16 and 24. Bus 170.

Phone: +31-20-6718345

Website: http://www.concertgebouw.nl/

Het Concertgebouw Concertgebouw Review

The word Concertgebouw has a fine ring to it to anyone who listens to classical music on German radio stations, because they keep playing brilliant recordings by the Concertgebouw orchestra.

Although that particular orchestra was not performing when I was in town, I did attend two other concerts in the beautiful building called the Concertgebouw, which fronts on the Museumplein across from the Rijksmuseum. This building dates from 1888, but has been tastefully modernized in recent years.

The name of this building means The Concert Building, as though it were the only one. It is an outstanding concert hall with fantastic acoustics.

It was built between 1882 and 1886, but not opened until 1888. It was modeled after the Neue Gewandhaus in Leipzig, which is not the current Gewandhaus but the one that was destroyed by bombings 1943.

In the 1980s, a hundred years after the Concertgebouw was built, it had to undergo a major overhaul, particularly the foundations, which had been made of wooden pilings and after a hundred years were in a dangerous state of rot.

Second photo: Front view of Het Concertgebouw.

Third photo: The stage door.

Fourth and fifth photos: The new entrance hall and lobby were built in the 1980s and were highly controversial at the time. I personally think it is a brilliant addition, preserving the appearance of the original building while creating more space for the booking office and for the convenience of the spectators.

Address: Concertgebouwplein 2 - 6

Directions: From the Central Station: Tram 2, 5, 16 and 24. Bus 170.

Phone: +31-20-6718345

Website: http://www.concertgebouw.nl/

There's no such thing as a free lunch... Concertgebouw Review

...but there is such a thing as a free Lunch Concert at the Concertgebouw. These are held every Wednesday at 12:30, except in mid-summer, and all you have to do is get there about half an hour beforehand, to be sure of getting a seat.

The concert I attended was held in the small recital hall and featured the Duo Albarus: Martin Grudaj, cello, and Elena Malinova, piano. The concert lasted about forty-five minutes, and they played works by Max Bruch, Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergej Rachmaninov. (By coincidence I heard three more works by Max Bruch two weeks later at an orchestra concert in Strasbourg.)

Second photo: People waiting downstairs in the new entrance hall for admission to the free Lunch Concert.

Third photo: Pianist Elena Malinova selling their CDs after the concert.

Fourth photo: People leaving the small Recital Hall after the concert.

Address: Concertgebouwplein 2 - 6

Directions: From the Central Station: Tram 2, 5, 16 and 24. Bus 170.

Phone: +31-20-6718345

Website: http://www.concertgebouw.nl/

What to wear to the opera Waterlooplein Area - Stopera Review

On the train to Amsterdam I had a chat with two lovely young women who had just graduated from college in Florida. When I mentioned what I was planning on doing in Amsterdam one of them said: "I suppose you'll be getting really dressed up for the opera?"

I had to disappoint her. "No, I'm just going to put on a tie, but otherwise I'll wear what I'm wearing right now." I was already wearing a clean shirt and a crumpled blue jacket, so with the addition of a tie I said I would be in the upper third of male opera goers. (Which turned out to be true.)

It is a common misconception that operas are terribly formal affairs, with tuxedos for the men and evening gowns for the women. This is no longer true in most places, though there might be exceptions in some parts of the world. One of the young women from Florida said: "My mother sometimes goes to the opera in Mobile, Alabama, and she really gets dressed up for that."

Second photo: More people in the lobby of the opera Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam.

Third photo: A young woman checking the text messages on her cellphone during the intermission. The reason I took a picture of her is that she is sitting approximately at sea level, in fact if the water were to come rushing in she would probably have to move up one or two steps to avoid getting her feet wet.

Fourth and fifth photos: People leaving the opera house in Amsterdam after the performance.

Later out of curiosity I looked up the website of the Mobile Opera and discovered that they put on exactly four performances per year, two of an opera and two of an operetta. They don't say anything about a dress code, but with this kind of schedule I could well imagine that each individual performance is a big occasion and that people would dress up accordingly.

Here's a quote from their website:

Opera is the ultimate art form. This incredible synthesis of music and drama stimulates the mind and enlivens the soul!

If anyone from the Gulf Coast region happens to read this, I hope you'll support the Mobile Opera and attend their performances -- and post tips about them here on VirtualTourist.

Website: http://www.mobileopera.org/

Views from the Stopera Waterlooplein Area - Stopera Review

Be sure to arrive at the opera house well before show time so you can enjoy all the great views from the windows of the various lobbies. You can see canals, boats, bridges and fine old Amsterdam houses.

Not many other opera houses have such nice views from their windows. Mainz is one. And the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris has great views from its upper terrace. Can you think of any others?

VT member Canage writes: "Is there anything in this world to beat the view from the Sydney Opera House?" (Seems to me I've seen lots of photos OF the Sydney Opera House, but never any FROM there. And I've never been there, unfortunately, but I'm happy to add Sydney to the list.)

Additional photos: More views from the Stopera.

Address: Waterlooplein 22, Amsterdam

Phone: 020-625 54 55

Website: http://www.dno.nl/

The Opera House Waterlooplein Area - Stopera Review

As I'm sure you remember from your high school geometry class, a regular polygon is a closed plane figure in which all sides and angles are equivalent. The more sides there are, the closer it resembles a circle.

The Amsterdam Opera House has the form of a regular polygon with I suppose about twenty sides, which would make it an icosagon. Actually they didn't build all the sides, just the ones that are visible from the streets and canals. The circular or nearly circular form is continued inside the building. The lobbies are curved, the orchestra pit is curved, even the downstairs toilets are curved.

Although the official name of this opera house is Het Muziektheater, it is known locally as Stopera, which is a combination of the words Stadhuis (City Hall) and Opera. That's because the City Hall is part of the same complex of buildings that were built all at the same time in 1986. In the photo you can see the City Hall off to the left.

Second photo: Canal boats anchored near the opera house.

Third photo: People on bicycles going past the opera house.

Address: Waterlooplein 22, Amsterdam

Phone: 020-625 54 55

Website: http://www.muziektheater.nl/

Het Muziektheater Waterlooplein Area - Stopera Review

In May 2006 the Amsterdam Opera put on nine performances -- all of the same opera. In that same month the Frankfurt Opera put on eighteen performances of six different operas.

This is because Amsterdam is on a strict stagione system, which means doing only one opera for several weeks, then scrapping it and doing another one. I'm sure this is cheaper than the modified repertory system in Frankfurt, but it would be highly unsatisfactory for someone like me. (So I'm not going to move to Amsterdam, okay?)

The opera I saw in Amsterdam -- the only one they were playing that whole month -- was Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).

Although most of the Amsterdam opera productions get good reviews, this one didn't, and after seeing it I'm afraid I have to agree with the reviewers that it was a somewhat lame effort. Which was not the fault of the singers, more of the conductor and the stage director. Too bad about that. I just happened to have picked the wrong month to visit Amsterdam, at least as far as the opera was concerned.

There were no Dutch names listed on the playbill, by the way. The conductor and the entire production team were Germans, and the singers were mainly Italians.

By the way, on my ticket it said: Het Muziektheater is een rookvrij theater.

With a little help from some nice VT members on the Amsterdam Forum I figured out that this means: The Music Theater is a non-smoking theater.

Second photo: Here you can see part of the audience and part of the stage. If the stage set looks rather abstract, that's because it was.

Third photo: People in the lobby.

Fourth photo: The Stopera at night after the performance.

Address: Waterlooplein 22, Amsterdam

Phone: 020-625 54 55

Website: http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-238828-1-1-Travel-0-463377-Amsterdam-discussion.html

Rainy day boat trip Canal Boat Tours Review

As in Strasbourg, an interesting rainy day activity in Amsterdam is to take a boat trip around the city.

I call it a rainy day activity because when the weather is nice you will obviously prefer to be out cycling rather than just sitting in a boat.

There are several companies that do canal boat tours, leaving from the piers at the street called Damrak near the central station. I took a tour by a company called Rederij Plas, which was fine but I have no way of knowing if it was better or worse than any of the other tours.

As in Strasbourg, I was the only person on the boat who had a map and was following along to keep track of where we were going. I am always amazed that nobody else does this, as one of the main purposes of such a tour is to start getting oriented and start learning your way around.

At thirty-five different places on the tour there were recorded commentaries in Dutch, German, French and English, which were fun because I could try to understand some of the Dutch (which I have never learned, but can sometimes figure out from German and English), and then use the other three languages to see if I was right.

Second photo: The Central Railway Station and Smits Koffiehuis, which is a fancy restaurant and not a "Coffee Shop".

Third photo: One of the Seven Bridges.

Fourth photo: The opera house in the rain, as seen from the tour boat.

Fifth photo: One of the tourist boats going past the opera house (not on the same day, obviously).

Website: http://www.rederijplas.nl/

Avoid the queues Van Gogh Museum Review

Here they have the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world, plus special exhibitions.

The museum is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays till 22:00. No photography is allowed inside. And no smoking, of course.

Second photo: As for the Rijksmuseum, you can now order and print tickets for the Van Gogh Museum online, to avoid standing in long lines like these folks are doing.

Address: Paulus Potterstraat 7

Directions: On the Museumplein.

Phone: +31-20-5705252

Website: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl

Tickets online Rijksmuseum Review

With a bit of advance planning it is now possible to order and print tickets for the Rijksmuseum online, so as to avoid waiting in line for tickets at the entrance. (Click on the link below for details of this.)

At this writing parts of the Rijksmuseum are closed for rebuilding, renovation and modernization. But this process is being spread out over several years, until 2009, and it's a big museum so there will always be more than enough to see whenever you go there, particularly paintings by the great masters of the 17th century.

The museum is open every day from 9:00 to 18:00, Fridays till 22:00.

Second photo: Entrance to the Rijksmuseum.

Address: Stadhouderskade 42

Directions: On the Museumplein.

Phone: +31-20-6747047

Website: http://www.rijksmuseum.nl