Johan Wagenaar Prize 2026
Johan Wagenaar Composition Oeuvre Prize & Dag in de Branding 77: Ars Nova
On 16 October 2026, Calliope Tsoupaki will receive the Johan Wagenaar Composition Oeuvre Prize at Amare in The Hague, during a concert by the Residentie Orkest featuring two of her orchestral works.
On 17 October, Tsoupaki curates the 77th edition of Dag in de Branding, Ars Nova — a festival journey through music from the medieval period to the present, exploring her musical lineage, from her own teachers and imagined mentors of the past to the young masters of the future.
Dag in de Branding edition 77
Location: multiple venues in Den Haag, The Netherlands
Date: 16th and 17th of October
More info and tickets here
16th of October
Johan Wagenaar Composition Oeuvre Prize Award Ceremony
Date: 16th of October
Location: Amare concertzaal, Den Haag
Time: 20:15
Program:
Calliope Tsoupaki – Falling
Gustav Mahler – Rückert Lieder
Calliope Tsoupaki – Thin Air
Antonín Dvorák – Symfonie nr. 5
From Tsoupaki’s floating sense of time to Mahler’s intimate heart and Dvořák’s warm expansiveness. An evening that begins gently and ends in sunlight. During this concert, Tsoupaki will also be awarded the Johan Wagenaar Prize.
17th of October
Calliope Tsoupaki, Guest Curator of Dag in de Branding 77: Ars Nova
11:00
Tassos Gkoletsos – Ektos Eaftou (True to Inner Daemon)
Date: 17th of October
Location: Filmhuis, Den Haag
Time: 11:00
Curator and Johan Wagenaar Prize laureate Calliope Tsoupaki opens this festival day with True to Our Inner Daemon, from her native Greece. Filmmaker Tassos Gkoletsos will be present for an after‑talk with Calliope and the audience.
14:00
New European Ensemble / Reinier van Houdt, piano
Date: 17th of October
Location: Paleiskerk, Paleisstraat 8 Den Haag
Time: 14:00
Program:
Diderik Wagenaar – Cat music
Gilius van Bergeijk – De Elementen
Louis Andriessen – Symfonie voor losse snaren
Anyone wishing to understand why Dutch music developed such a strikingly distinctive character after 1970 cannot overlook The Hague. Around the Royal Conservatoire, the Hague School emerged: a group of composers who positioned themselves against the established musical world with its red‑velvet seats and complacent orchestras.
15:30
Nawras Altaky
Date: 17th of October
Location: Paleiskerk, Paleisstraat 8 Den Haag
Time: 15:30
Composer, singer, and oud player Nawras Altaky has been appointed the new maker‑in‑residence at Festival Dag in de Branding. “With his unique musical language — in which Syrian traditions, jazz, and contemporary composed music merge organically — Altaky has, in recent years, grown into one of the most striking voices in the Dutch music scene,” writes New Music Now.
17:00
Ai Horton / Lydia Gardiner / Mieneke van der Velden / Joël Boone / Jeremy Bass
Date: 17th of October
Location: Old Catholic Church, Den Haag
Time: 17:00
Program:
John Cage – Litany for the Whale
Claudio Monteverdi – Lamento d’Arianna
Calliope Tsoupaki – Fleur Muette
Lydia Gardiner – The Zeewijk Passion
Guillaume de Machaut – virelai
In this church, guest curator Calliope Tsoupaki brings together kindred spirits spanning seven centuries.
20:15
Ensemble Klang
Date: 17th of October
Location: Nieuwe Kerk
Time: 20:15
Program:
Michael Gordon Trance
Calliope Tsoupaki Greek Dance
David Fennesy New Work
Klang pairs Gordon’s Trance and David Fennessy’s new work with Calliope Tsoupaki’s Greek Dance (1990), originally written for piano and now specially arranged for Klang’s powerful 23-player amplified instrumentation of keyboards, trumpets, trombones, guitars, pan flutes and saxophones.