All that jazz

The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival is not the most famous summer festival in the Scottish capital, but it’s definitely helping to cement Edinburgh’s position as the “international festival capital of the world”. This year, the jazz festival’s international showcase, known as SPARK, will put jazz from the Netherlands in focus. There are performances by Evan and Carolina's Super Duper Group & Fun (Friday 17 July at The Jazz Bar), Harmen Fraanje (Saturday 18 July at St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Portobello), Jesse van Ruller and Maarten Hogenhuis (Saturday 18 July at St Bride’s Centre), The Peter Somuah Group (Sunday 19 July at St Bride’s Centre), Femke Mooren in collaboration with three Scottish jazz musicians (Monday 20 July at The Jazz Bar) and Ponga (Tuesday 21 July at The Jazz Bar). Music journalist Henning Bolte will talk about the thriving Dutch jazz scene, and the connections with artists in Scotland, at St Bride’s Centre on 18 July.

Femke Mooren will be jamming with a number of Scottish jazz musicians at Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

Ali Smith and New European Ensemble

When Seasonal Quartet – a collaboration between New European Ensemble and author Ali Smith – had its world premiere at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam last September, both the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the director of Spitalfields Music Festival were in the audience. Both directors decided on the spot that they wanted to bring this production to their respective festivals. On 2 July, Ali Smith will be reading from her books Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer in London while the New European Ensemble play music by four female composers who each wrote music based on Smith’s books. On 28 August, the New European Ensemble and Ali Smith perform Seasonal Quartet in Edinburgh.

Speaking of authors…

Various Dutch authors have been invited to speak at UK events, too. Recently, Jente Posthuma participated in the European Writers Festival at the British Library in London and Raoul de Jong had been invited by the University of Sheffield. Soon, Roaul de Jong will be back in the UK, to promote his book Jaguarman . On 15 July he’s at East Bristol Books; on 16 July at Brixton Library (London).

But let’s get back to Edinburgh…

Dutch pole dancing champion at Dance Base

Pole dance virtuoso Yvonne Smink will deliver astonishing performances at Dance Base in Edinburgh from 18 to 30 August. Poles , choreographed by Guilherme Miotto, also features live music by Isaac Poels. This Dutch production is part of the Dance Base Festival, containing 23 shows from 12 countries.

Angels in America by International Theatre Amsterdam is one of the highlights of Edinburgh International Festival 2026

ITA performs Angels in America

By far the biggest Dutch production coming to Edinburgh this year is Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by International Theatre Amsterdam (ITA). This will be the first theatre show in the historic King’s Theatre in Edinburgh after reopening. The theatre has been closed for four years to undergo major refurbishment works. And what a production to reopen the theatre! In an epic five hour performance (including interval), ITA brings Tony Kushner’s masterpiece about the AIDS pandemic in the USA to the stage. Edinburgh International Festival has regularly worked with ITA in the past, most recently (2024) bringing Penthesilea to its theatre loving audiences. Tickets for Angels in America are bound to sell out, so don’t wait too long to book yours.

Edinburgh Fringe

As always, there are lots of Dutch artists signing up for Edinburgh fringe, performing all over the city. Comedians top the list, such as Dender Cartoontheater, Bob Koomen, Adi Parmar, Efdé&Efdé, Rogier Bak, Rachel Morton-Young and Tim Honnef. But we also found a serious theatre drama about the Siege of Leningrad. The embassy has not been involved in any of the performances at the Fringe, but of course we encourage anyone going to Edinburgh in August to support the Dutch fringe artists as well.

Freedom Festival in Hull also has a Dutch focus

Hot off the press! We can announce that Freedom Festival in Hull (from 3 to 6 September) is working with four creative companies from the Netherlands this year. This news is so fresh that the acts have not even been announced on the Freedom Festival website yet, but we can reveal that Daniel Simu and his Acrobot are coming to Hull, that Compagnie with Balls will take to the streets, that Tom, Tom & Tom will roam around the city centre and that Camiel Corneille’s spectacular show Senescene has also been booked. And this year some of the festival acts go on tour to other towns as well. For Camiel Corneille and Compagnie with Balls this means they will also perform in Grimsley, Goole, Tadcaster and Bridlington.

Daniel Simu and his Acrobot will be coming to Hull 

European Creative Producers congregate in Manchester

From 1 to 5 July, twelve creative producers from across Europe, plus one Manchester-based producer, will spend time together at Factory International, to watch and analyse performances at Aviva Studios and across the city, and to share learnings with each other. These thirteen creative producers have already been following an online programme together over the past few months. The aim of the programme is to build a cross-disciplinary network of producers and fosters partnerships between European and UK cultural sectors. It is organised by Factory International, with support from EUNIC London, the EU Delegation to the UK, and the EUNIC Global Cluster Fund 2026. The Dutch participant is Naomi van Dijck.

Some reviews we would like to share

There is a lot more Dutch culture in the UK this summer, and especially in London – from an M.C. Escher exhibition at Somerset House and an exhibition of Early Netherlandish Drawings at the British Museum, via a Lesbian Simulator experience at Raindance Festival, to live performances by Dutch musicians at Cadogan Hall, at Westminster Abbey and inside the Polygon Portal – but we thought it would be good to use some space in this newsletter to report on the fantastic reviews given to some projects supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in the UK.

Audiences of Edinburgh International Children’s Festival said the performance of Theater Artemis was “Epic”.

GROOVE, by The Ruggeds and Ghetto Funk Collective received many 4-star reviews. Everything Theatre wrote: "(...) audience interaction is one of the show’s strengths. They managed to get everyone up and dancing on the spot (...)". The Reviews Hub wrote: “Throughout, the show balances the spectacle of dance with respect for the music and its history.”

This Is Rambert is touring the UK. It contains three choreographies, one of which is Gallery of Consequence by Dutch choreographer Emma Evelein. The Telegraph gave it a 5-star review, writing: “Set to Raven Bush’s superior electronic score, and with Evelein deploying a broad palette of contemporary styles (including an opening solo of robotic hip-hop “popping”), the piece is by turns thrilling and poignant; and, although a hefty 30 minutes plus, it doesn’t drag for one second.”

Contact the Culture Team at the Dutch Embassy in the UK

Many activities featured in this news article have been made possible with support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the UK. Supporting collaborations between well-established UK-based arts organisations and trailblazing Netherlands-based arts professionals is part of the International Cultural Policy of the Netherlands. If you want to know more about this, please contact us on lon-ppc@minbuza.nl.