A look back on BIMHUIS 50 Years

Last October we celebrated our 50th anniversary and what a celebration month it was! With over 15 sold-out concerts, more than 10,000 visitors, walls covered with BIMHUIS opinions in our café, a jubileumpenning from the Gemeente of Amsterdam and a surplus of musical highlights, it was a month to remember.

Where better to start than the spectacular opening with Martin Fondse’s BigBim? With 21 musicians, the building as a backdrop and five new compositions inspired by five themes in our history, Fondse presented a fantastic world premiere entitled HOME.

This was followed by the official opening by the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, who surprised us with the presentation of an jubileumpenning from the Gemeente of Amsterdam. Halsema: “Listening to the music, the makers, the visitors and society is central to the BIMHUIS. This has made the BIMHUIS, not only for Amsterdam, a very important place.’ Followed by two energetic concerts by Tineke Postma’s Quartet and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis in duo with drummer Chad Taylor.

Tineke Postma Quartet © Maarten Nauw

It was the kickoff to a month of original music. From Oscar Jan Hoogland’s successful retrospective of 50 years of BIMHUIS (“At the end of the evening there is only one conclusion possible: It was fantastic. – journalist Peter Bruyn) to a nightclub setting during Amsterdam Dance Event with Greetje Bijma & Oceanic, among others (“Slowly her music becomes more and more solid, danceable and industrial. A nice contrast with the backdrop of the Piet Heinkade. The empty office buildings full of fluorescent light and the constantly passing cars, cyclists, trains and streetcars give the whole thing a kind of live display of Koyaanisqatsi” – 3voor12), every day was a celebration.

Greetje Bijma & Oceanic © Rogier Boogaard

Some highlights were: three nights of Brad Mehldau with a new Dutch-tinged quartet, Chief Adjuah and the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra. Of course there were also odes to our founders and pioneers in our Legacy series, such as Willem Breuker Revisited, Hans Dulfer and Ernst Reijseger: Picture This. And we dwelt on the sudden death of one of our founders, Willem van Manen, who passed away at the age of 84.

Sun Ra Arkestra © Rogier Boogaard

Or what about new pioneers we can offer a stage through BIMHUIS Productions such as Tijn Wybenga and Marta Warelis. “As part of the October program the remarkable Polish pianist Marta Warelis debuted a dazzling international sextet. The group premiered a new set of music facilitated by the Reflex program, once again indicating the venue’s support for the improvised music community.” (Downbeat)

We also organized concerts outside our venue. In the BIMHUIS Loves series, we organized five sold-out concerts in breeding grounds in the city with which we feel related, and gave ten living room concerts as gifts to Amsterdam residents scattered throughout the city. Furthermore, our visitors with concert tickets could go for free to Café Alto on the Korte Leidsedwarsstraat on the same night.

Besides our concerts, there was also plenty to look at and get involved in. With an exhibition at the Allard Pierson Museum in which four BIMHUIS key figures selected their favorite concert or in our café, where 50 years of the BIMHUIS was hung out with hundreds of newspaper clippings, reviews and opinion pieces. The opportunity to add stickers with their own opinion about BIMHUIS was popular, leaving the exhibition up for a while longer. And visitors to the Openbare Bibliotheek van Amsterdam could get a taste of our program via the BIMHUISje, a mobile cinema in the shape of our building with a selection of BIMHUIS TV concerts. We thank all the partners with whom we worked for this anniversary and all the funds that helped make it financially possible.

And now what? Now it is time to enjoy, and what better way to do so than through BIMHUIS TV, on which a selection of our anniversary program can be viewed with perfect picture and sound. Or check out these opinion pieces on the 50 years of the BIMHUIS + interviews with our bookers from Downbeat and All About Jazz.