Meredith Monk's Piano Songs Concert in a 14th-Century Amsterdam Church

On December 1, 2023, Meredith Monk performed Piano Songs at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, a 14th-century former church now serving as a contemporary art center. The concert was part of a live program accompanying her first major European retrospective, Meredith Monk: Calling, curated by Beatrix Ruf and produced by the Hartwig Art Foundation. The exhibition runs at Oude Kerk until March 17, 2024, and simultaneously at Haus der Kunst in Munich until March 3, 2024. Monk, an 80-year-old American interdisciplinary performance pioneer and vocal technique innovator, has been called an "aesthetic mother" by Björk, who covered her song Gotham Lullaby. The retrospective includes videos, documentaries, listening stations, and unpublished interviews. The exhibition's centerpiece is Indra's Net, a performance premiered in June 2023 at the Holland Festival, also produced by Hartwig Art Foundation. The foundation, established in 2020 by billionaire Rob Defares, aims to commission and donate artworks to the Dutch state. It recently announced a new art center in Amsterdam's Zuidas financial district, converting a former 1970s Palace of Justice into a temporary contemporary art space with a restaurant, auditorium, and music workshop room. The early morning walking concert featured young Italian pianists Alessandra Di Gennaro and Gianmarco Moneti performing Monk's piano songs. Additional concerts are scheduled for February 16 and March 15-17, with a film screening in January.