EXCURSIONS
Tuesday 7 July 2009, 10.00 - 12.30
Social programme for accompanying persons (included in the conference fee).Accompanying persons are invited to attend a city sightseeing.
Wednesday 8 July 2009, 14.00
Excursions (included in the conference fee).
Some tours have limited numbers, so register early to be sure to get the tour of your choice. If a tour is fully booked we will place you in your second choice of tour.
1. Concertgebouw and Jordaan
A tour behind the scenes of the famous Concertgebouw (Concert Hall) of Amsterdam. This neoclassical building (1888) is the home of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Afterwards we will walk through the Jordaan, an area typical for Amsterdam, where the Dutch chanson used to play an important role in daily life.
2. Historical Amsterdam
A walk through the Grachtengordel (‘spider's web') of Amsterdam. The historical centre dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th century has many canals, bridges, alleyways and authentic houses. We will visit the museum church Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic, a refuge church from ca. 1662) and then go to the Oude Kerk (Old church) for a demonstration of the carillon by the city carilloneur Gideon Bodden. The Oude Kerk is the oldest church in Amsterdam. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) was the organist there for 44 years and he is also buried inside. The church tower can only be reached by climbing 200 steps.
3. Amsterdam School architecture
The expressionist, socially engaged architectural style of the Amsterdamse School (Amsterdam School, 1910-1930) is one of the most important Dutch architectural trends in the 20th century. Typical for this style are the expressive colours, sinuous gables and the unusual use of bricks and roof tiles. We visit the museum Het Schip (The ship), formally a post office and then we are taken through three social housing complexes.
4. Organs in Haarlem
Bus trip to Haarlem for a visit to the Grote of Sint Bavo kerk (Great or St. Bavo Church). The famous Christian Müller organ (1738) is to be found in this majestic church. The organ (on which the ten year old Mozart once played) can be heard played by Anton Pauw.
Afterwards a visit to the Draaiorgelmuseum (Mechanical Organ Museum) with Europe's largest mechanical organ (Kunkels Orgel), built in 1909 in an Art Deco style.
5. Holland a land of polders
Bus journey through the Haarlemmermeer polder, the largest polder in Holland completed in 1852. The new polder measuring 18,000 hectare lies almost 5 meter under sea level. Tour and demonstration in the steam powered pumping station Cruquius (an internationally recognised monument) which stands for the Dutch
struggle against the rising water. The trip will end musically at the Draaiorgelmuseum (Mechanical Organ Museum) in Haarlem where we will meet up with the excursion group ‘Organs in Haarlem'.
6. Windmills in the Zaan area
Bus trip to the oldest ‘industrial area' of the Netherlands, built up in the 16th and 17th centuries. At the peak of their activity in about 1730, hundreds of windmills were working to process materials from the Baltic States. We will visit the paper mill De Schoolmeester (The Schoolmaster), the only windmill (from 1692) which still makes paper on a daily basis. We then go on the bus once again to the Zaanse Schans, on the banks of the river Zaan with its authentic green houses and windmills.
