10.00-18.00 FvV hall, Utrechts Conservatorium | free admission
Competition: First Quarter-Final Round
with quarter-finalists of the Dutch Harp Competition 2012
Half of the quarter-finalists play works by C.Ph.E. Bach, M. Flothuis and P Patterson. The audience can see the contestants, but the jury is seated behind a screen.
19.30-20.00 Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn | free admission
Meet & Greet: Warming up for the evening
Meet & Greet allows the audience to get to know the evening’s artists/musicians during a leisurely interview with the performers. All three Real Men are guests, along with the composer Roel van Oosten. Your host this evening is Floris Don, music researcher, historian and critic, writing for the NRC newspaper.
20.15-22.30 Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn
Openingconcert: Real Men Play The Harp 
Host Giel Beelen
with Emmanuel Ceysson, harp, Remy van Kesteren, harp, Andreas Mildner, harp and the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht conducted by Johannes Leertouwer
During the opening concert of the Dutch Harp Festival, three men will throw all your preconceptions about the harp overboard and show you what the instrument is really made of! Artistic director Remy van Kesteren from The Netherlands and Andreas Mildner from Germany are two of the world’s most talented harpists of the moment; Emmanuel Ceysson has been at the absolute world pinnacle for some time now. Together, and with the orchestra, they are going to play a pioneering programme of wonderful, exciting works that will have you on the edge of your seat. One thing is certain: after tonight, you’ll never look at the harp in the same way again!
Programme
- I.
- II.
- III. (Rondo)
- I. Very relaxed
- II. Spirited
- III. Energetically
- I. Allegro risoluto
- II. Adagio
- III. Allegro con fuoco