Archive 1989 

De Materie by Louis Andriessen premiered, an opera about key moments in Dutch cultural history. Direction and design were by theatre innovator Robert Wilson, with Reinbert de Leeuw conducting. But this was not the only legendary opera: older works such as Wagner’s Götterdämmerung under the direction of Edo de Waart and a concert performance of Purcell’s King Arthur were also on the programme. 

Yet another King Arthur appeared, this time by NTGent under the direction of Dirk Tanghe, who was not the only Flemish artist in the festival: Jan Lauwers and the up-and-coming Needcompany were also present in June with Ça Va. 

There was a focus on contemporary Russian music by composers such as Galina Ustvolskaya and Sofia Gubaidulina, as well as works from earlier in the 20th and 19th centuries, including Dmitri Shostakovich and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. 

Master pianist Alfred Brendel, the first to record the complete piano works of Beethoven, played Beethoven and Schnittke at the Concertgebouw. 

Jiří Kylián choreographed a new work to music by Mauricio Kagel, who had been extensively featured at the Holland Festival in 1985.