Dag van de Componist

The fourth edition of the Dag van de Componist (Composer’s Day) will take place on and around Saturday 21 June 2025. Composer’s Day turns the Netherlands into one big music station. During the national festival, more than 20 participating cities will put their composers in the spotlight with all kinds of activities, such as concerts, workshops and lectures. City composers compose a new City Song for the festival. The public can travel from station to station with the New Music NOW Express. Live performances will take place in the three train compartments and at the stations. Radio station NPO Classical and online music platform newmusicnow.nl pay plenty of attention to Dutch new music art. Composer’s Day is an initiative of New Music NOW and is unique in Europe.

With the Dag van de Componist (Composer’s Day), the Netherlands celebrates the importance, value and pleasure of new music. Composers active here and now in our country deserve to be heard much more often. At the festival, they are therefore in the spotlight, in all their versatility. They are recognisably present and approachable to the public, give workshops and lectures, put together programmes and give a ‘peek into their world.’ And, of course, their music is heard. Not only in concert halls, but also on the streets, radio and train stations and on trains. With the Composer’s Day, initiator New Music NOW wants to set nothing less than a movement in motion, because creation and curiosity belong at the heart of musical life.

Composer’s Day will take place on and around Saturday 21 June 2025 and will consist of the following parts:

Multi-day programme with over 200 composers in more than 20 cities
Many music organisations and composer collectives work together as the New Music NOW Network. They engage with composers from their cities and neighbourhoods, presenting more than 200 activities in over 20 cities. Participating cities include Amsterdam, Arnhem, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, Den Bosch, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Heerlen, Maastricht, Almere, Amersfoort, Zwolle, Groningen. Network partners for the Day of the Composer include TivoliVredenburg, Concertgebouworkest, Amare, de Doelen, Musis & Stadstheater Arnhem, November Music, Gaudeamus, Intro in Situ Heerlen/Maastricht, De Link Tilburg, Orkest De Ereprijs and many choirs, ensembles, music associations, conservatoires, music schools, artist collectives, publishers and producers.

New Music NOW Express 
The specially chartered, bright red music train, the New Music NOW Express, connects the national programme and traces a trail of new music across the country. The train passes through five stations: Amsterdam, Arnhem, Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague and back to Utrecht. On board are plenty of live performances by emerging and renowned composers; the audience sits side by side with the musicians and composers in the train compartments.

City composers and new city songs
Special City Composers will be appointed in the five cities the New Music NOW Express visits. They will compose a new City Song to be heard for the first time at the festive Station Concert, which will feature choirs, ensembles, conservatoires and other organisations in each city. The specially appointed City Composers are: Kate Moore Stadscomponist Amsterdam, Andries van Rossem Stadscomponist Arnhem, Saskia Venegas Stadscomponist Rotterdam, Maxim Shalygin Stadscomponist Den Haag and Nawras Altaky Stadscomponist Utrecht.

Kate Moore                       Andries van Rossum                 Saskia Venegas Aernouts

Maxim Shalygin                         Nawras Altaky

Heerlen, Tilburg and Maastricht each have a City Composer for two years: Angela de Weijer Stadscomponist Heerlen, Nicoline Soeter Stadscomponist Tilburg and Hans Leenders Stadscomponist Maastricht.

Angela de Weijers                      Nicoliene Soeter                        Hans Leenders

Station concerts on the route of the New Music NOW Express

• On the longest day of the year, Kate Moore and her Herz Ensemble open with the sun song Cantico del Sole at 05:19 at sunrise. The concert will take place at Pension Homeland Amsterdam. After a communal breakfast, musicians and fans will walk together to Amsterdam CS for a morning Station Concert, featuring a new City Song by City composer Kate Moore performed by the VU Chamber Choir, current compositions by young composers by the Maat Saxophone Quartet and a performance by Fuensanta with Ben van Gelder. Afterwards, Amsterdam audiences can join the New Music NOW Express or immerse themselves in the music programme in the city, where composer collectives such as SplendorAmsterdam, Grond Bajesdorp, Plantagedok join forces and open doors wide.
• City composer Andries van Rossem creates a collective happening at Arnhem station. Not only with his own work, but also with young talent, students and alumni of ArtEZ, with which he was associated for 35 years. He asked Tobias Wentink to compose the new City Song, invited Dolf de Kinkelder and his percussion group and gave teachers, students and young talent from ArtEZ ample space.
• At Utrecht Central Station, the 70-piece NS Orchestra will play works by Dutch composers, including Johan de Meij, Jacob de Haan, Guus Meeuwis and Jurgen IJsendoorn, who composed and was a chief conductor.
• Belgian/Basque/Dutch Saskia Venegas is City Composer Rotterdam. She is writing a tribute to the city, the port and the Rotterdammers for a Rotterdam choir and the Basque percussion instrument txalaparta. Rotterdam presents a musical city route, past studios, workshops, concert halls, churches and neighbourhood stages.
• The Hague Central Station is packing out with a new composition by Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin, ‘Burlesque on the Death of a Dictator’ performed by 9×13 Neo Fanfare. The Royal Conservatory of Music, which attracts composers from all over the world, also presents their talents in Amare and at the station.
• The train ride of the New Music NOW Express concludes with a performance by city composer Nawras Altaky, who weaves a festive musical tapestry under the bulb roof at Utrecht Central Station. Together with Young Jazz Society Big Band, Kika Sprangers and many Utrecht musicians, he brings together the sounds of Utrecht in a multicoloured weave.
• Notenbal in TivoliVredenburg en TV
  In the evening, TivoliVredenburg will host the Notenbal: a full-length public programme featuring musical guests, composers and top ensembles and a tribute to the best compositions of the past season. The line-up: Kluster5, HIIIT, Nawras Altaky & Young Jazz Society Big Band. The programme will be recorded for radio and TV.

Favourite music stations: Radio NPO Classical and New Music NOW TV
On and around 21 June, Radio NPO Classical and New Music NOW TV are dedicated to the Day of the Composer. NTR Klassiek, VPRO Vrije Geluiden and Avrotros will go all out with no less than ten days of composer specials, previews and live performances. New Music NOW recordings of concerts on the train. Afterwards, the video recordings will be made available for various New Music NOW channels and platforms.

Funds & Partners
Composer’s Day 2025 is co-sponsored by several funds and municipalities, including Buma Cultuur, het Cultuurfonds, Reinbert de Leeuw Stichting, Dioraphte, Sena Performers Fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Gemeente Rotterdam, Gemeente Utrecht, Gemeente Arnhem, K.F. Heinfonds, Berch Heemstede fonds en mediapartners NTR:Klassiek, VPRO Vrije Geluiden, Avrotros, Concertzender and many network partners.

See for programme Day of the Composer 2025: https://newmusicnow.nl/dagvandecomponist