About
The Noord Nederlands Orkest (NNO) in Groningen is a Dutch symphony orchestra. It originated in 1989 from a merger of the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra (NFO) in Groningen and the Frysk Orchestra in Leeuwarden since 1950, but the history of the orchestra goes back more than 150 years.
The NNO brings symphonic music to the three Northern provinces, with around 120 concerts per season: in concert halls, in the open air, during festivals and for schools.
History
The NNO has a history that goes back to 1862 and is therefore the Netherlands' oldest professional symphony orchestra. It is in direct line heir to the oldest Dutch orchestra, the Orchest der Vereeniging De Harmonie, founded in 1862 as part of society De Harmonie. In 1926 the orchestra continued independently as Groninger Orchest Vereeniging. Conductors were successively Maurice Hageman (-1865), Carl Eisner (1867-1869), Johannes Henderikus Bekker (1869-1897), Marius van 't Kruijs (1897-1905), Peter van Anrooy (1905-1910), Kor Kuiler (1910-1944) and Jan van Epenhuysen. In 1962, at the centenary, it was given the name Northern Philharmonic Orchestra. After the merger of the NFO and the Frysk Orchestra, it continued as the NNO, with De Oosterpoort as its home base.
Scatter
The Noord Nederlands Orkest is primarily from and for the north and performs in concert halls, in the open air, during festivals and at schools. The home base of the NNO is De Oosterpoort in Groningen, but it also provides concert series across the three northern provinces: in De Lawei in Drachten, De Nieuwe Kolk in Assen, De Muzeval in Emmen, De Tamboer in Hoogeveen, De Harmonie in Leeuwarden, Schouwburg Ogterop in Meppel and Theater Geert Teis in Stadskanaal. It regularly tours to venues elsewhere in the country, such as the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht and De Doelen in Rotterdam. The NNO also supervises some productions of the Dutch Travel Opera.
Programming and vision
In the vision of the NNO "the secret of the intense experience of classical music lies in the live performance of the symphony orchestra and in the contact between musicians and the audience". The repertoire of the NNO ranges from baroque music to contemporary classical music. In addition, the aim is to reach a wide audience through crossovers between classical music and jazz and pop music. Every year, a living composer is central to the Composers Festival, which is organized in collaboration with the Prime Foundation. Since 2000 these have been successively Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, Hans Werner Henze, Wolfgang Rihm, Harrison Birtwistle, Heiner Goebbels, Sofia Goebaidoelina, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Michael Nyman and Steve Vai. 'Composer in residence' is Anthony Fiumara in the 2016-2017 season.
The programming is broad, based on the idea of addressing a large target group. The NNO does this, for example, via the Pieter Roelf Youth concerts and the free lunch and outdoor concerts. You can also regularly listen to the NNO on the radio. There is close collaboration with various other art institutions, the Prince Claus Conservatory (Groningen), the Royal Conservatory (The Hague) and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
In the 2005-2006 season, the NNO's programming was nominated for the Classical Music Prize of the Association of Theater and Concert Hall Directorates (VSCD). During the 2016-2017 season, the Council for Culture advised the Foundation to grant the Noord Nederlands Orkest a subsidy amount of € 6,000,000 because of "the wide range of symphonic repertoire and the well-designed education program with a large reach".
NNO concerts vary considerably in style. To make the music accessible, the NNO works a lot with introductions to concerts and the presence of an 'artist in residence'. Pop artist Eric Corton fulfilled this role in 2016. He is still closely associated with the NNO in the capacity of singer and presenter. For example, he sang with Tim Akkerman, Tim Knol and Marcel Veenendaal at the A Symphonic Tribute to The Rolling Stones concert. In addition to crossover, the NNO plays the large symphonic repertoire, contemporary classical music (composed after 1975) and concerts under the name 'symphonic new style'. These are concerts where classical music is central but is presented in a different way. For example, the duration of a concert differs or classical music is combined with a different style of music or a current theme.