The fifth edition of the Dag van de Componist takes place on Saturday 20 June 2026, presenting contemporary music across more than fifteen cities in the Netherlands. Organized by New Music NOW, this year’s event heavily features extensive programming and concerts dedicated to contemporary Dutch masters and Donemus Publishing composers, putting living musical creators firmly in the spotlight.
The festival concludes on Sunday 21 June at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht with a major closing concert by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Markus Stenz. The evening focuses on large-scale contemporary orchestral works, with Joey Roukens and Maxim Shalygin as the central composers of the programme.
A key work of the evening is Joey Roukens’ violin concerto Out of the Deep, performed by violinist Simone Lamsma. The piece has received wide recognition in recent years and was awarded the VSCD prize De Ovatie for outstanding stage performance. In Utrecht, it forms a major highlight of the concert, reflecting Roukens’ characteristic blend of energy, lyricism, and architectural clarity.
The programme also includes the world premiere of the orchestral version of Burlesque on the Death of a Dictator by Maxim Shalygin. Originally composed in 2025 for fanfare orchestra during his tenure as City Composer of The Hague for the Day of the Composer, the work is now expanded into a full symphonic version. This new orchestration intensifies its expressive range and expands its dramatic and political resonance.
Alongside these two central works, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra also performs a new orchestral piece by Kate Moore, offering an additional perspective within the broader programme and situating Roukens and Shalygin within a wider field of contemporary orchestral voices.
Together, Roukens’ Out of the Deep and Shalygin’s newly orchestrated Burlesque on the Death of a Dictator form the artistic core of the closing concert, underscoring the festival’s commitment to substantial new works that define the current landscape of contemporary orchestral music in the Netherlands.
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention