A song for the moon

The family opera Een lied voor de maan (A song for the moon) is based on the eponymous children’s book by Toon Tellegen, who has won worldwide acclaim for his short stories featuring animals. Beloved by all ages, his work gives a philosophical spin to amusing and bizarre situations. Several of his stories have been set to music, including the Holland Festival production The cricket recovers (2011). The narrative of A song for the moon instantly struck a chord with composer Mathilde Wantenaar, who wrote the music for this production. Wantenaar: "The story appealed to my musical imagination (…). It tackles important themes such as loneliness, identity, disappointment and friendship, but it is also a story about the power of music and its ability to bring people together." You can find an interview with the composer on Mathilde Wantenaar. Newspaper NRC published a nice review entitled "A song for the moon" breathes contagious pleasure in everything (in Dutch).

A song for the moon is a production of Dutch National Opera & Ballet in which members of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands account for the instrumental part. The production was ready to be played in 2020 when the Netherlands went into lockdown and was thus canceled.

This spring, the family opera gets a second chance. On 21 March at 4:00 p.m., there is a streamed performance as part of the Opera Forward Festival and on 17 April at 4:00 p.m., A song for the moon can be seen as part of the "Kindermuziekweek" (Children's Music Week). In June, the performance travels to Festival International d'Aix-en-Provence for a series of French-language performances.

For current information on concert dates, see our events calendar.