Volkskrant: A frog as heroic tenor

Thursday kicks off the fifth edition of the Opera Forward Festival, entirely online this time. With this festival, the National Opera gives a new generation of artists the chance to explore the future of opera.

Composer Mathilde Wantenaar (27) wrote the children's opera Een lied voor de maan for the festival, which was actually supposed to premiere last year, but can still be seen Sunday afternoon. The work lasts more than 45 minutes and is composed to Toon Tellegen's story of the same name.

Read the full article by Maartje Stokkers in the Volkskrant here.

A Song for the Moon premieres online on Sunday 21 March at 4pm at De Nationale Opera. Visit www.operaforwardfestival.nl for free online tickets.

Het Parool: ‘Children immediately show when they find it boring’

This year's Opera Forward Festival will take place entirely online. Mathilde Wantenaar's second opera, A Song for the Moon, cancelled at the last minute in 2020, will therefore get another chance.

Scene frome Een lied voor de maan. Photo Kim Krijnen.

Due to corona and lockdown, the Opera Forward Festival in 2020 fell through. One year on, little has changed. That's why, starting tomorrow, De Nationale Opera will bring the fifth edition of the OFF online in its entirety, with performances of Kurt Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins, starring Eva-Maria Westbroek and Anna Drijver, a preview of Upload, Michel van der Aa's new film opera, and Mathilde Wantenaar's family performance Een lied voor de maan (6+) , on a text by Toon Tellegen.

Read the full article by Erik Voermans in Het Parool here.

Place de l'opera: Lied voor de maan premiers online

Scene from Een lied voor de maan, with Vera Fiselier as the mole. (© Kim Krijnen)

The family opera A Song for the Moon is on the programme of the Opera Forward Festival on Sunday 21 March. The new work by composer Mathilde Wantenaar and librettist Willem Bruls will premiere online at De Nationale Opera after a year's coronary delay. We saw a run-through of the performance and spoke to director Béatrice Lachaussée.

Those who are not yet completely soured after a year of corona restrictions have something to look forward to. Those who are, for that matter, too. On 21 March, you can see the video recording of the story about the mole who wants to compose a song for the moon because it is so lonely in the sky. Toon Tellegen wrote it and Mathilde Wantenaar composed music to go with it, with a recognisable quote from another composer here and there. The age indication is 6+, but audiences much older can also look forward to a nice afternoon.

Read the full article by François van den Anker here.