Stichting Ammodo, For arts, architecture and science

The Opera Forward Festival (OFF) is an annual festival for new contemporary opera productions. The festival presents opera as a relevant and forward-thinking artform to a wide audience.

operaballet.nl

Pictured: Animal Farm by Alexander Raskatov at Opera Forward Festival 2023.

Ammodo supports the creation of the new production The Balancing Act by choreographer Ann Van den Broek, in which she explores the relationship between the interests of the individual versus the community.

The performance is set to premiere in October 2023.

wardward.be

SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht presents contemporary international performances at the crossroads of dance and theatre. Every year, the festival also produces new work by young and more established creators from over the globe.

Ammodo supports the production of new performances for editions 2024-2026.

springutrecht.nl

Pictured: Narcosexuals, Dries Verhoeven, SPRING 2022

Freaky Friday Face/Off is a new theatre production written by Florian Myjer and directed by Ward Weemhoff.

The play investigates the politically sensitive subject of representation. Can a man play a woman? Can a white person play a black person? Can a heterosexual person play a queer person?

dewarmewinkel.nl

Pictured: Een oprechte ode aan de Ironie, De Warme Winkel, 2022

Greek-Belgian director, writer, actress and performance artist Naomi Velissariou is working on a new play called Atropa, about the lead-up and aftermath of the Trojan War.

The piece is based on a text by Tom Lanoye and focuses on the fate of the Greek and Trojan women. Velissariou explores contemporary issues such as identity politics, rape culture and oppression.

Ammodo supports the development of Atropa, which is realised in co-production with Theater Utrecht, Orkater and Toneelhuis Antwerpen.

Photo: Louise te Poele and Maison de Faux

Every summer, Holland Festival presents a wide range of international music, theatre, dance and opera in Amsterdam. The festival also (co-)produces new work each year. Ammodo supports these new (co-)productions to boost the development of the performing arts.

Holland Festival had invited Angélique Kidjo and Nicolas Stemann as associate artists for its 75th edition in 2022. This anniversary edition will see sixteen co-productions and initiatives, including the world premiere of Euphoria, a new audiovisual installation by Julian Rosefeldt.

In 2023 and 2024, the festival will present around ten international co-productions each edition, as well as a number of own initiatives focusing on Dutch mid-career artists and companies.

hollandfestival.nl

Pictured: Ine Aya’, Nursalim Yadi Anugerah/Miranda Lakerveld, Holland Festival 2021

Concertgebouw Connects is a programme around non-Western music. For each season, The Concertgebouw presents a series of concerts by outstanding musicians from all corners of the world and representing all genres.

Ammodo supports this concert series to contribute to a richer and more future-proof programming at the Concertgebouw.

concertgebouw.nl

Pictured: Angélique Kidjo

Every other year in the summer, The Dutch National Opera & Ballet organizes the Choreographic Academy: a period of three weeks in which young talented choreographers collaborate with the dancers of the Junior Company.

The Choreographic Academy aims to be a place for research and experiment. A final result in the form of a finished choreography is not a requirement, but it happens regularly.

operaballet.nl

Pictured: New Moves, 2022 (Photo: Khayla Fitzpatrick)

Ammodo supports the creation of three new productions by choreographer Arno Schuitemaker: Remembering the Future (2023), The Day Before (2024) and Correspondences (2025).

arnoschuitemaker.com

Pictured: O S C A R, Arno Schuitemaker, 2021 (Photo: Bart Grietens)

Angela (A Strange Loop) is an interdisciplinary theatre project by Susanne Kennedy about the human relation to illness and death.

The piece combines high tech, philosophy, pop culture and literature as it follows a woman named Angela from birth until death and beyond.

Pictured: Three Sisters, Susanne Kennedy, 2020

Het Achtste Leven (Voor Brilka) is a large-scale theatre production directed by Daria Bukvić, based on Nino Haratischwili’s novel of the same name, a monumental family epic spanning six generations.

The story takes place in twentieth-century Georgia, against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Live music – from folk to pop – plays an important role in the play.

oostpool.nl

Cappella Amsterdam is a chamber choir consisting of over 25 people. For seasons 2022/2023 and 2023/2023, the choir will develop a number of new (co-)productions, both independently and in collaboration with partner institutions such as the Dutch National Opera, the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra, the Residentieorkest and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Ammodo supports these new productions, which range from old and classical to contemporary music.

cappellaamsterdam.nl

If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution researches and produces performance work in all its shapes. Through artist commissions, If I Can’t Dance supports makers who find themselves at a defining moment their careers.

In 2022, If I Can’t Dance launches Edition IX: Bodies and Technologies, spanning two years. During this period, the organisation commissions four artists to create new work and invites three researchers to research performance art. In this edition, If I Can’t Dance explores how performance can help us better understand the relation between bodies and technologies. The artists are Black Speaks Back, Jessika Khazrik, Tchelet Weisstub and Constantina Zavitsanos and the researchers are Susanne Altmann, Samia Henni and Igiaba Scego.

ificantdance.org

Pictured: His Flowers Shed, Tchelet Weisstub, 2021

The Nexus Institute creates space for critical thinking by organising conferences, lectures and masterclasses and publishing essays. At the annual Nexus Conference, prominent contemporary thinkers discuss topics around democracy, science, art and civilisation. Important intellectuals who have joined these debates include Nobel Prize Laureates Amartya Sen, Wole Soyinka and Mario Vargas Llosa, philosophers Jürgen Habermas and Avishai Margalit, and authors Marilynne Robinson and J.M. Coetzee.

Ammodo supports the annual Nexus Conference to contribute to a high-level discourse on the big questions of life.

nexus-instituut.nl

Pictured: Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka
Photo: Jan Reinier van der Vliet

The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet is a talent development programme for young dancers. Since its establishment in 2013, it has garnered a reputation for fostering promising new talents.

Every season, the Junior Company tours the nation with its own programme of repertoire choreographies as well as new creations. Many former participants have gone on to be selected for the Dutch National Ballet.

From season 2023/2024 onwards, the Junior Company expands its activities with the production of a new performance at Studio Broekman. Sedrig Verwoert is the first choreographer to be selected for this commission piece.

operaballet.nl

Afgebeeld: In the Future, Hans van Manen, Shooting Stars tour 2022 (Photo: Altin Kaftira)

Festival d’Avignon is an annual theatre festival for new French and international productions. In editions 2023 and 2024, Ammodo supports the creation of two new (co-)productions per year.

In 2023, these are Welfare by Julie Deliquet and Antigone in the Amazon by Milo Rau. In 2024, they will be Mothers – A Song For The Wartime by Marta Górnicka and second production (to be determined).

festival-avignon.com

Brideshead Revisited is a theatre production written by Florian Myjer and directed by Ward Weemhoff. It is based on Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel of the same name, in which a middleclass man tries to assimilate to the upper class.

The play investigates identity as it relates to class. Is it possible to climb the social ladder? Does class affect the way you experience sexuality?

dewarmewinkel.nl

Pictured: Brideshead Revisited, De Warme Winkel, 2023

Interdisciplinary theatre director Nicole Beutler is working on Rituals of Transformation, a trilogy about the climate crisis and a world in transition. The first part, GINKGO, premieres in 2022.

Ammodo supports the production and development of part two and three of the trilogy, ATMEN (2023) and GAIA (2025) respectively.

Together, the performances reflect on the future of humanity and our planet. In her work, Beutler combines theatre, dance and visual arts.

nicolebeutlerprojects.nl

Picture: GINKGO, Nicole Beutler, 2022

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, led by Pierre Audi since 2019, is the largest opera festival in France. The festival presents new recitals of existing works as well as new contemporary (opera) productions.

Ammodo supports the development of two new operas per year for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 festival editions. In 2022 these are Il Viaggio Dante by Pascal Dusapin, Frederic Boyer and Claus Guth, and Woman at Point Zero by Bushra El-Turk.

festival-aix.com

Pictured: Innocence, Kaija Saariaho, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2021

Every other year, the Concertgebouw presents SOUK, a two-day festival around Arabic music. Ammodo supports the sixth and seventh edition of the festival, in 2023 and 2025 respectively, to enhance the cross-fertilisation of Western and Arabic music and the collaboration between musicians.

concertgebouw.nl

Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ is a concert hall in Amsterdam specialised in contemporary music. In order to push the development of new music, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ commissions new pieces by Dutch and international musicians and composers. Ammodo has supported these commissions since 2013.

As of 2023, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ will initiate two to three large-scale international (co-)productions per year.

muziekgebouw.nl

Pictured: Asko|Schönberg
Photo: Ada Nieuwendijk