When Early Music is performed today, is it truly living art—or nothing more than an exhibit piece? In its 43rd edition, the Festival Oude Muziek examines this question. 
By 
The Oude Muziek Utrecht festival is legendary. And pretty intense… The first events start here at seven in the morning, the last ones at midnight. And so, sleep-deprived figures with glazed eyes, glancing at the navigation app on their smartphones, carrying the heavy program book, snacks, and water bottles in their Oude Muziek tote bags over their shoulders, quietly humming as they hurry from concert to concert over the cobblestones of the canals, are an integral part of the cityscape during the nine-day festival. More than 70,000 visitors from all over the world are expected this year to attend the 370 events taking place between August 29 and September 7, spread across the beautiful old town of Utrecht: numbers more commonly associated with rock festivals!
And yet, festival director Xavier Vandamme, artistic advisor Jed Wentz, and planning manager Hitske Aspers do not rely on populist narrow-gauge offerings, elaborate opera productions, or other supposed crowd-pleasers. Instead, they take their audience seriously, offering them quality—and sometimes taking risks in the process. These risks have always been rewarded with enthusiastic approval.
Thus, for every musician, every ensemble, it counts as a kind of accolade and a coveted crowning achievement for their biography to be able to perform here — even in the hugely popular Fringe series, where young ensembles can be heard in free concerts and thereby draw attention to themselves in exalted company. And each year one also encounters here a considerable number of colleagues, journalists from all over the world — and not least promoters of every stripe, who move through the concerts as if through a luxury department store of Early Music, where the best and/or the latest from the scene is attractively displayed to be seen, heard, and, in case of doubt, booked straight away for their own festival or concert series.
We spoke with Jed Wentz about how this success came about, how the theme of “museum art” in this 43rd edition should be understood, and whether the size of the festival is more of a curse or a blessing.
Passionate about early music and want to read this subscriber-only article?
If you are not a subscriber, join the international Total Baroque community. Subscribe here from 5.00€.
I subscribe
If you are already a subscriber, sign in.
I sign in 
You must be logged in to be able to post comments.
Sign in