Dag in de Branding Festival: sensational and trendsetting

During Festival Dag in de Branding in The Hague, the theatres, the Residentie Orkest and various ensembles will introduce you to the latest music. Three times a year they organize a festival full of discoveries at different locations in The Hague. Today’s makers are central. Meet the composers and chat with the musicians. What fascinates them and how is that reflected in their work?

The Dag in de Branding Festival is organized by the Johan Wagenaar Stichting, an organization which aims at stimulating the development of new music. The Johan Wagenaar Stichting (JWS) was founded in 1947 and from the outset it had a policy of giving composers pride of place. The organization has commissioned numerous compositions and granted composition awards. The JWS is in charge of music awards in the municipality of The Hague, including the most well known of them all, the Johan Wagenaar Award, which a composer receives for a complete oeuvre. Furthermore, the JWS promotes the realization of performances of contemporary music. The JWS organizes concerts and festivals and initiates and stimulates discussions and collaborations. From the 1980s onwards, the JWS put on a festival called In de Branding, which was held once every three to four years. In 2005 the JWS initiated the Platform for New Music, with financial support from the municipality of The Hague, to increase the festival’s frequency and its impact. The programming input of the platform partners is crucial to the Dag in de Branding Festival for new music, and has been since the first edition, which took place at various locations in The Hague on 16 September 2006.