Programma's

Strandbeest Zingt

Strandbeest Zingt

Theo Jansen and Calefax invite you an a musical expedition through the natural history museum of Strandbeests.

Roxane van Iperen to Calefax-land

Roxane van Iperen to Calefax-land

Writer and lawyer Roxane van Iperen delves into the role of music in times of conflict, misfortune, and trauma in collaboration with Calefax. Van Iperen places current conflicts in a historical context and sheds light on the workings of traumas – and how to deal with them. The musical contributions of Calefax add a spiritual depth to her stories.

Debussy: pioneer, esthete, troublemaker

Debussy: pioneer, esthete, troublemaker

A turbulent life and a stubborn character: learn more about the life of one of Europe's most famous composers

Tour New Zealand 2024

Tour New Zealand 2024

Calefax travels to New Zealand for a series of workshops and 9 concerts in a.o. Auckland, Christchurch and Nelson.

King’s Day Concert 2024

King’s Day Concert 2024

Calefax will be giving this year's King's Day Concert! The concert will be broadcast on Dutch National television NPO2 on April 27th. Calefax performs works by Locatelli, Gershwin (choreographed by Sanne van der Put), Van Kesteren and Kinan Azmeh. The musicians share the stage with Remy van Kesteren, Rosa da Silva, BOI AKIH and the Animato Quartet.

USA Tour 2024

USA Tour 2024

In April, Calefax travels to the USA for a series of concerts and a coaching in Michigan and North Carolina.

Tour United Kingdom 2024

Tour United Kingdom 2024

From 12 untill 15 May, Calefax travels to the United Kingdom for concerts in Newbury and London.

Day of the Composer

Day of the Composer

On 17 June, New Music Now organizes the Day of the Composer, that puts composers in the spotlight with activities throughout the Netherlands. Calefax performs on several occasions, on live radio, on the Express train and with a short concert at TivoliVredenburg Utrecht.

Outdoor concerts

Outdoor concerts

Calefax will be performing a series of concerts in July at special outdoor locations. The program will feature music from their new album, 'An American Rhapsody,' as well as classics from Calefax' repertoire.

Streetwise

Streetwise

A versatile and bold programme that is full of joie de vivre. Music that originated on the street, or was inspired by daily life on the streets, is of all times.

Calefax’ cabinet of curiosities

Calefax’ cabinet of curiosities

Hidden in the attic of the Calefax’ Mansion lurks a wondrous cabinet of curiosities. Filled with the most desirable and rare objects. Here we embrace all that’s peculiar, and we can travel without having to leave the concert hall. Discover forgotten instruments and be amazed by extraordinary combinations and beastly caprioles.

Mother Earth

Mother Earth

Calefax shares the stage with chamber choir Cappella Amsterdam for: Mother Earth. A universal concept to which every person gives their own meaning. We live in a time where we collectively seem to realise that our planet could exist without mankind, but mankind won’t last a day without our planet. With this programma, Calefax and Cappella show how the arts have inspired humankind to care for our planet for centuries with music by Paul Simon, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonìn Dvořák and Kate Moore.

Menu de Saison

Menu de Saison

Throughout the season, Calefax offers a selection of their newest creations from recent years. This menu offers a.o. the Quintet op. 97 by Dvořák, a selection of the Préludes by Debussy and music by Gerhswin.

PAN 20th anniversary

PAN 20th anniversary

The shortest festival of the Netherlands celebrates its 20th anniversary! The PAN is Calefax’s annual mini festival filled with music, art and surprising crossovers of many different artists.

public final round of judging of the Calefax Composers Competition

public final round of judging of the Calefax Composers Competition

For the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Calefax Composers Competition, Calefax organizes a public final round of judging with Kate Moore at 7pm at the Tolhuistuin Amsterdam.

Environmental Policy Calefax

Environmental Policy Calefax

The core business of Calefax, like any other acoustic music group, is as simple as sustainable: inspiring listeners by bringing air into vibration. Still at Calefax we are aware of the environmental impact of our work, especially our tours. In order to minimize this impact we have defined this Environmental Policy which will be update regularly after having new insights or receiving constructive feedback.

Tour USA 2023

Tour USA 2023

From 15 untill 28 March, 2023, Calefax travels to the United States for a series of concerts and masterclasses.

Van Gogh’s Way to Go

Van Gogh’s Way to Go

Before he dedicated his life to painting, Vincent van Gogh had many occupations. It wasn’t until the age of 27 that he found his calling. In Van Gogh's Way to Go, we follow Vincent along the path where his passion for art, without regard for any conventions, took him.

Festival PAN 2022

Festival PAN 2022

PAN is Calefax’s annual mini-festival between Christmas and New Year, filled with musicians from various genres and surprising crossovers with other art forms.

Paulien Cornelisse to Calefax-land

Paulien Cornelisse to Calefax-land

In the second edition of the annual concert series Welcome to Calefax-land, Calefax invites Paulien Cornelisse on stage. They delve into the overlap between language and music together.

The Composing Performer, the Performing Composer

The Composing Performer, the Performing Composer

Calefax and the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio perform on the edge of composition and improvisation with brand new work and other pieces by mostly unknown masters from the past.

Story Tellers

Story Tellers

Story Tellers is a brand new travelling concert series that combines classical music with stories of today, connecting the voices of well-known master raconteurs with the music of some of the best Dutch ensembles.

Tour USA 2022

Tour USA 2022

From 9 untill 17 March, Calefax travels to the USA for a series of concerts and masterclasses in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The tour ends with a concert in Alexandria (VA), where we play Un Momento Dado by composer Johan de Meij with the United States Air Force Band, where de Meij will join on stage as the conductor.

Milouska Meulens to Calefax-land

Milouska Meulens to Calefax-land

Milouska Meulens is a presenter, moderator and writer. Our worlds become intertwined: Caribbean with European, music with words, modern with classical and the past with the present.

love actually

love actually

Calefax showcases love in her many guises, set to music by various composers. As diverse as love is, so is its representation in music.

fantastic music

fantastic music

Throughout the centuries, composers loved to limit themselves with complicated forms – freed from these forms we discover a different side of these artists. No sonatas, rondos or variations, just beautiful, freely associated music that moves its listener from beginning to end.

PAN 2021

PAN 2021

The PAN is Calefax’ annual mini festival on 28 December with musicians from various genres and surprising crossovers with other art forms.

PAN-demie

PAN-demie

The PAN is Calefax' annual mini festival. For this edition, Calefax invites freelance musicians who's schedules got cleared due to the corona crisis.

PAN 2020

PAN 2020

The PAN is Calefax' annual mini festival between Christmas and New Year. For this seventeenth edition, Calefax invited musicians who's schedules got cleared due to the corona crisis.

play along with calefax

play along with calefax

Calefax gives all its wind playing fans the opportunity to play along with the Ricercar of the new album Bach's Musical Offerings. Calefax made six seperate recordings in which one of the instruments is missing. Wind players can download the sheet music of their part with an audio file in which this part is missing.

35th anniversary

35th anniversary

Established in 1985, Calefax this year celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary as the world’s first reed quintet with several activities. In October, they release their new album Bach's Musical Offerings and go on tour for it. Calefax tours with 35 Years of Plenty in the same month, in which we look back and relive highlights from Calefax’ history with five pieces, each chosen by one of the musicians.

support

support

Enjoy Calefax at home

Enjoy Calefax at home

In these uncertain times due to the Coronavirus we still want to provide you with our music. Find streams from concerts of our archive here, gain new insights with our video's and read about our experiences and tips in these challenging times.

Song of the Reed

Song of the Reed

Calefax shares the stage with the well-known Iranian singer Mohammad Motamedi in November 2024. Together, the musicians perform a mixture of traditional Persian music with instrumental classical music.

The New World according to Dvořák

The New World according to Dvořák

Calefax highlights American music scarcely played before Dvořák’s sojourn in the USA, as well as the development that music in America went through after his departure. Tour from 9 January until 7 February 2021.

Bach’s Musical Offerings

Bach’s Musical Offerings

35 years after the ensemble played its first concert, Calefax celebrates its birthday with masterpieces by Johann Sebastian Bach. They play repertoire from their new album Bach's Musical Offerings: Musikalisches Opfer and Vom Himmel hoch-variations.

35 years of plenty

35 years of plenty

Established in 1985, Calefax this year celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary as the world’s first reed quintet. In 35 Years of Plenty we look back and relive highlights from Calefax' history.

Europe: a century ago

Europe: a century ago

Calefax paints a musical portrait of Europe in the ‘10s, ‘20s and ‘30s.

PAN Festival 2019

PAN Festival 2019

The shortest festival of the Netherlands! The PAN is Calefax’s annual festival concert between Christmas and New Year.

Calefax XL (with students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague)

Calefax XL (with students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague)

The musicians of Calefax Reed Quintet coach students of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague for four days in November.

tour new zealand 2020 – cancelled

tour new zealand 2020 – cancelled

Unfortunately due to the Corona virus, our concert tour is cancelled. We hope to postpone the tour and reschedule the concerts for a later date.

tour USA 2020 – cancelled

tour USA 2020 – cancelled

Unfortunately due to the Corona virus, our concert tour is cancelled. The tour will be postponed and the concerts rescheduled for a later date.

Tour Sweden 2020

Tour Sweden 2020

From Sunday 9 untill Sunday 16 February, Calefax travels to Sweden for a series of concerts in a.o. Landskrona and Laholm.

Tour United Kingdom 2019

Tour United Kingdom 2019

From 8 untill 12 November and 9 untill 12 December 2019, Calefax travels to England and Wales for a series of concerts and a masterclass in a.o. Cardiff, Luton and London.

Un Momento Dado

Un Momento Dado

Johan de Meij, an international celebrity in the world of the symphonic wind orchestra, is currently one of the most performed Dutch composers. Calefax will perform as soloists in a grand composition de Meij has written especially for reed quintet and wind orchestra.

Calefax makes a scene – cancelled

Calefax makes a scene – cancelled

We’re liberating ourselves from our music stands and will be moving freely on stage in Calefax maks a scene. Together with choreographer Sanne van der Put, we are deepening your musical experience by staging our movements.

The human organ

The human organ

Calefax brings the most beautiful organ music to concert halls in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands from 27 October untill 15 December 2019.

Dancing on the vulcano

Dancing on the vulcano

During the first years of our existence, Helena Rasker used to be our go-to vocalist. Many years and grand careers later, we join the stage once again.

Fall

Fall

From 20 September to 21 November, Calefax and theatre company Schweigman& bring a musical ode to falling, in which we look our fears in the eye.

Tour Japan 2019

Tour Japan 2019

From Sunday 17 untill Sunday 24 March, 2019, Calefax travels Japan for a series of concerts in (a.o.) Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Tour USA 2019

Tour USA 2019

From Sunday 3 untill Tuesday 12 February, 2019, Calefax travels to the USA for a series of concerts and master classes in (a.o.) New York, California, Utah and Colorado.

Calefax with a.o. Davies, Reich, Volans & Nas

Calefax with a.o. Davies, Reich, Volans & Nas

Calefax in a minimalistic flavoured programme. With musical migratory birds by Carola Bauckholt, Steve Reich’s vision on Manhattan and a piece by Tansy Davies, the composer in residence of the Concertgebouw.

Dream or Reality?

Dream or Reality?

Is it a dream? Or reality? Calefax plays music from the twilight zone between dreams, imagination and everyday reality.

Inside the mind of a composer

Inside the mind of a composer

How does music originate? Where do the notes come from? Do composers just make up a tune or does the melody impose itself? Are strong emotions the breeding room of impassioned music or is silence a condition for a musical storm?

PAN Festival 2018

PAN Festival 2018

The shortest festival of the Netherlands! The PAN is Calefax’s annual festival concert between Christmas and New Year.

Open your Ears! (8+)

Open your Ears! (8+)

In Open your Ears! the five men of Calefax tell you all about their love and passion for music.

Calefax & Matthew Barley

Calefax & Matthew Barley

The adventurous English cellist Matthew Barley is Calefax’s ideal ‘partner in crime’.

Dido & Aeneazz

Dido & Aeneazz

Calefax and renowned trumpeter Eric Vloeimans present a swinging new version of Purcell’s famous baroque opera Dido and Aeneas.

Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems

Hidden gems from Calefax’s repertoire enjoy the limelight.

Seven Locks (4+)

Seven Locks (4+)

A sing along concert for everyone aged four or more.

The Music Factory (6+)

The Music Factory (6+)

The five Calefax men work in a pipe factory. Every day they do the same and that suits them fine. So there is great panic when one day the orders stop coming in.

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