Full lineup of Dutch Double Bass Festival’s fourth edition announced!

Rotterdam – The spectacular band Dirty Loops, festival founder James Oesi with chamber orchestra Kamerata Zuid (premiering newly commissioned music by composer and bassist Derrick Hodge), Flamenco bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons, American hip-hop bassist and producer Brady Watt and Teun Cremers’ acclaimed band Naamu will be among those performing at the fourth edition of Dutch Double Bass Festival. The only festival in the world in which the bass takes centre stage can be seen and heard on October 13th and 14th of this year in Theater Zuidplein, Rotterdam. Full ticket sales for the festival start today. A total of 18 acts will perform – from pop bands to classical groups – with the double bass and bass guitar in the lead.

Only in the Netherlands!

As well as putting together unique collaborations, Dutch Double Bass Festival programmes a large number of acts exclusively for the Netherlands. A prime example of this is the band Dirty Loops with bassist Hendrik Lindner at the forefront, a phenomenon in the music world since 2008. Recognized for their completely unique versions of, for example, Baby by Justin Bieber or Rolling in the Deep by Adele and of course from their own work. Their inimitable mix of disco, soul, jazz, fusion, pop, gospel, funk and electronica makes for incredibly energetic live performances. At Dutch Double Bass Festival there will of course be even more attention for Lindner’s star role in the band!

Ten years ago Adam Ben Ezra released his iconic ‘Can’t STop Running’. The YouTube release was the beginning of his star status! With his videos garnering more than twenty million views Adam Ben Ezra can count himself as one of the world’s most influential bass players. “Bringing the double bass out of the shadows” to quote the BBC! His solo live performances in which he performs multiple instruments and exploits electronics have become a worldwide phenomenon. This year sees the release of his fifth album and his 10 year career anniversary, both of which he’ll be celebrating at Dutch Double Bass Festival.

Renaud Garcia-Fons, nicknamed the ‘Paganini of the double bass’ and world famous for his brilliant and idiosyncratic performances of flamenco on the double bass will also be coming exclusively to Rotterdam to perform at the festival.

Brady Watt is an Instagram and YouTube sensation. His online series Bass & Bars sees him performing with world famous rappers sich as Warren G, Marc Rebillet and Talib Kweli and has reached millions of followers. With his bass guitar and double bass Watt makes impressive and compelling improvisations under and in reaction to the rappers words. At DDBF expect a very special live version of Bass & Bars.

Festival founder James Oesi will be collaborating with Tilburg’s innovative chamber orchestra Kamerata Zuid to perform a programme of music by composers from the African diaspora, especially arranged by Oesi himself. Works by Abdullah Ibrahim, Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Joseph Bologne among others. The highlight of the programme will be the premiere of a newly written double bass concerto by bassist Derrick Hodge.

Classical, Jazz and Funk in one festival

Because the bass is the backbone of all music styles, Dutch Double Bass Festival programmes across as many genres as it can. In addition to the above-named acts the festival will also be programming:

• Bassist Teun Cremers, the specialist in West African music, to which his newest project Naamu is entirely dedicated. Reviews have been, without exception, glowing and at DDBF he will be joined by special guest, kora phenomenon, Mamadou Diabaté.
• A symbiosis between Mark Haanstra’s (Yuri Honing and Ellen ten Dame) bass guitar and Indu Punday’s Indian dance, choreographed by Kalpanarts in the piece ‘Tara’!
• Dominik Wagner’s ambition is to take the bass out of the cello’s shadow, a goal that this young viennese bassist seems to be achieving extremely well! Performing across the world as a soloist with orchestra and in duo and solo formation, the 25 year old has won almost every double bass competition there is. At Dutch Double Bass Festival he will be performing with prize-winning Ukrainian pianist Polina Sasko.
• Slovakian Roman Patkoló is a prize winner of some of the bass world’s most prestigious competitions including the Johannes Matthias Sperger competition, ARD International Music Competition and the European Prize of Culture. At DDBF he will be performing a spectacular programme with guitarist Miriam Rodriguez Brüllova and chamber orchestra the Zagreb Soloists.
• “Like Björk on a good day.” is how online music blog Beatradar described Show Pony, the alter ego of American Laura Nygren. The double bassist, singer, electronic musician, and producer, Laura Nygren is fast establishing herself as one of the most versatile and exciting rising stars active in the Netherlands pop and classical scenes.
• Dario Calderone is one of the standard bearers of contemporary music.
• Influential German improviser and jazz bassist Robert Landfermann will record his second solo album later this year. Landfermann has already had an impressive career, with collaborations with the likes of John Scofield and Chris Potter and spots in permanent bands with members including Pablo Held. Among others he has won the WDR Jazz Prize.
• DDBF geeft ook de jongste talenten een podium. Van het Codarts Conservatorium te Rotterdam en Conservatorium van Amsterdam spelen drie ensembles met hun beste basstudenten.

Fourth edition DDBF: a unique festival worldwide

From classical, to jazz, world and pop, as the world’s only festival programmed around the bass and aimed at a broad audience, Dutch Double Bass Festival shows what exactly is so special about the instrument. With orchestras and soloists, bands; with double bass, bass guitar and viola da gamba. As well as live music also ‘Ateliers in Residence’ – expositions by instrument makers, a bass cinema and a photo exhibition by artist Pim van der Zwaan. Artistic leader is bassist James Oesi, well known from among others Podium Witteman and Op1: “Most people don’t realise just how versatile the bass is: the fundament of the orchestra, a compelling solo and chamber instrument and of course essential in a jazz formation. I want the world to experience just how beautiful the instrument is and its appeal to all kinds of music lovers whose hearts we want to touch with this festival.”

The previous three editions have seen performances by the likes of Dominic Seldis (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), the bassists of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, world star bassist Richard Bona and world famous jazz duo Dave Holland and John Scofield. On the 13th and 14th of October, we will be welcoming 18 acts in Rotterdam’s beautifully reopened Theatre Zuidplein, a building that was nominated for the Rotterdam Architecture Prize 2021.

Dutch Double Bass Festival is organised by the Dutch Double Bass Festival Foundation and is made possible by contributions from among others: SENA Performers, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Fonds21, de Gemeente Rotterdam, Stichting Dioraphte, het Kersjesfonds, de Eramusstichting, de Gravin van Bylandt Stichting, de Stichting ter Bevordering van Volkskracht, Stichting Elise Mathilde, de Janivo Stichting, het Hendrik Mullerfonds, de Haella Stichting, de Van der Mandele Stichting, de Van den Berch Van Heemstede Stichting, De Lancey Foundation, de Suzanne Hovinga Stichting, Stichting Item, Fonds 1999, Admiraal van Kinsbergen Fonds, Stimulering Kunst & Cultuur, Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot, and 1A First Alternative.