composer | director
press quotes
snippets & sound bites of press releases about Noordegraaf's works in recent years. For full reviews on specific works, check out the respective project pages (click on a title to go there directly)
Huid (2016)
composition for 3 percussionists, choreography for 4 players
Boukje Schweigman, director, Theun Mosk, scenographer
Slagwerk Den Haag, Schweigman&, Arnoud Noordegraaf
premiere: October 2016, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht
★★★★ Trouw 25 oct 2016
"Huid is een knappe zoektocht naar manieren om van het voelen muziek te maken'"
★★★★ Theaterkrant 24 oct 2016
"In intieme of juist uitgesproken heftige scènes raken spelers en slagwerkers met elkaar vervlochten. Een fascinerende en soms onverwacht komische trip"
more info on the Huid project page
As Big as the Sky (2015)
opera for 4 soloists, ensemble, sheng, samples and film
premiere: June 2015, Holland Festival, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam
★★★★ NRC Handelsblad 15 June 2015 by Joep Stapel
"As Big as the Sky is an original and convincing combination of film, theatre and opera. The catchy dialogues create pace in the scenes, and the musicalesque way in which the characters switch to singing works very natural. Noordegraaf's supple, spongy music is always close to the action; even the Chinese kunqu opera with it's smashing gongs and shrill voices he incorporated very convincing, without falling into 'chinoisérie'"
"..excellent role by wagnerian baritone Martijn Cornet ... Amazing is the Chinese tenor Zhang Bo ..."
★★★★ Bachtrack magazine 14 June 2015 by David Pinedo
"The show bewilders due to the stark contrast of tedious narration with awe-inducing visuals (...) Ai Weiwei ... created an impressive set-piece with hypnotic video-projections. (...) the composer’s inventive synthesis of Wagnerian late-Romantic lyricism and Chinese Kunqu rhythms. (...) the work succeeds by captivating through its visuals and innumerable stimulating ideas."
"it was guest Wu Wei on his sheng that infused the orchestral experience with Chinese authenticity. He Yi excelled as Qin Mulan, (...) Cornet’s full, warm voice ... comically charmed the audience with his foray into Kunqu opera"
"Noordegraaf can count his production to Holland Festival’s successful endeavours into experimental, digital meta-theatre."
KindaMuzik magazine 15 June 2015 by Sven Schlijper
"Noordegraaf catches the story in music that stands like the front of a Greek temple. Start and finish are the cornerstones in which Western contemporary music lays a firm foundation. In between them, Mulan sings Kunqu and playful Chinese pop. (...) Noticeable is the way contrasts are presented completely naturally. With a deep personal animation both the Western and Eastern story is presented; in colourful music and likewise text."
"There's not a moment in which film, videos and technical tricks become forced. On the contrary, they lay logical bridges and add witty and topical layers. (...) An unmatched whirl of music, song, acting, multi media image and phenomenal set"
more reviews and press releases on the Sky project page
UrWald (2013)
music theatre and feature film for ensemble Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, actor Porgy Franssen, en on film a.o. Sytske van der Ster en Hylke van Sprundel. premiere: October 2013, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam
★★★★ Volkskrant 15 October 2013, Biëlla Luttmer
"Musically there's the lean power of pianist Gerard Bouwhuis (...) but also the enchanting lines on a muted trumpet, accompanying the sinister schizophrenic character Sylvain on film (...) Occasionally film and music comete for attention, at other moments the form a counter point of complementing voices. The ways in which Noordegraaf shifts these from fore- to background is one of the attractions of this new work."
★★★ NRC Handelsblad 17 October 2013, Joep Stapel
"UrWald is an innovative interplay of film and live music, with narrator Porgy Franssen as binder. (...) Noordegraaf's exciting, rhythmical music was attractive. (...) A coral of raw chords disembogued in a spectacular musical finale."
Muziek van Nu 11 October 2013, Marianne de Feijter
"What a venture... Especially clever is the way Noordegraaf connects 'everything to everything else'. The suspence-enhancing music with the intriguing images (...) Unrivalled, it all just fit."
more reviews and press releases on the official UrWald website
A.M. (2010 / 2011)
opera for 4 musicians, soprano and two-channel film installation. Holland Festival, June 2011
★★★★ NRC Handelsblad 10 June 2011 by Jochem Valkenburg
"[the press preview] showed what an enchanting, moving and at times funny show this is. (...) The music adds to a beneficent immersion in loneliness and the atmosphere of nightly Tokyo. (...) Music and images strongly melt together..."
Brabants Dagblad 5 August 2011, Mark van de Voort:
"Sold out flat no less than three times in a row at the Holland Festival (...) a poetic show, subtly balancing between stylized film art and modern opera. (...) beautiful stilled shots of a displaced city by night (...) De music is sparsely instrumented, at no point the composer overplays his hand."
VPRO Radio-4 Blog
"The images on the big screen are beautiful. The intimate setting in the hall appeals to the imagination."
more reviews and press releases on the official A.M. website
Fugue (2012)
New York Times 2013 by Michael Nagle
"In Arnoud Noordegraaf’s psychologically dark and unsettling “Fugue” they even took on visual form as she played standing behind a sheer screen. ... creating an arresting duality of sound and image. A distinctive aspect of Ms. Germino’s playing is her earthy and sharp pizzicati, and in this piece they seemed to trigger the recorded images like snapping brain synapses."
The Strad magazine (US) 2013 by Bruce Hodges
"Perhaps most striking was Arnoud Noordegraaf's Fugue, performed behind a screen on which were projected additional images of Germino, synchronized to pre-recorded tracks"
VPRO Radio-4 Blog (NL) 2011 by Miranda Driessen
"‘Moving music’ by the Calefax reed quintet was staged and directed in a remarkable tasteful way by Arnoud Noordegraaf."
Muze (2007)
CultuurPodium (NL) 2007 by Barbara Klomp
"music theatre for baritone, cello, percussion, sound tracks and film: "The music together with the estranging set and film images triggers a magnificent dream-like feeling, leaning towards hypnotising."
Pong (2003)
The Australian (AU) 2006
"The brilliant tragicomic film Pong by Dutch composer Arnoud Noordegraaf added depth to the evening, bringing yet another point of discussion to a thoughtful and rewarding program."
Solitude (2005)
De Subjectivisten (BE) 2005 by Mark van de Voort
"perfect and poetic balance between spacial image and three dimensional sound ... one thing is clear: this tastes like more, much more."
Volkskrant (NL) by Marian Buijs
"It's the atmoshpere and the tranquility that stick with you, the stillness that belongs to loneliness. In the midst of the festival turmoil an oasis of calm."
Voyager (2004)
De Telegraaf (NL) 2004 by Bela Luttmer
"Noordegraaf is a remarkable multi media talent. (...) Voyager is a beautiful, multi-layered unity of text, images and music. Images from space and raw electronic sounds merge into the warm mezzo voice of Marieke Koster (...) Through the quirky combination of texts, video and music, a unique language takes on shape, captivating through the end."
NRC Handelsblad (NL) in 2004 by Ernst Vermeulen
"... hardly less fascinating was Voyager for singer, tape and video by Arnoud Noordegraaf, who managed to reach a remarkable unity in mood and style."