Over HIIIT
Innovative sound virtuosos, performing artists and multi-purpose co-creators
Battles
&
Silences
za 25 apr. 26 20:15
During the First and Second World Wars, church bells were widely melted down into deadly weapons. Now that Europe is gradually being drawn into a new war on its own soil, HIIIT is reversing this process with Battles & Silences. In this project, battlefield weapon waste will serve as the foundation for a new series of instruments and compositions in the coming years.
In the spring of 2024, eight kilograms of Ukrainian bullet casings were melted down into bars in Kyiv, shipped, and then reforged in the Netherlands into a new resonant bell—marking the beginning of this reversal: turning destruction back into beauty. With Battles & Silences, HIIIT creates an alternative, immersive, and imaginary landscape that allows space to listen to this transformation and reflect on our urgent longing for peace.
Composer duo Poulson Sq. (Anthony Fiumara & Mathijs Leeuwis) confront the audience—together with two performers from HIIIT—with the pressing and ever-relevant reminder that peace is never a given. Through analog tape echoes and percussive interventions, the sounds of the 45-kilogram bell will compose a landscape of battles and silences.
Minimal Rave
zo 26 apr. 26 19:30
Let loose at this Minimal Rave on King’s Night and dance to the music of Philip Glass and Louis Andriessen.
This standing concert in the Conservatoriumzaal of Amare in The Hague promises to be an unforgettable experience. First, immerse yourself in the finest minimal music by Philip Glass, then really let go to the danceable, high-energy Hoketus by our Dutch star composer Louis Andriessen.
In Hoketus, the core element is the hocket technique. Characteristic of this technique—already used in the Middle Ages—is that the notes of a melody are distributed among several players. The ensemble in Hoketus is divided into two identical groups (consisting of pan flute, tenor saxophone, Fender piano, piano, and congas), which complement each other and therefore never play simultaneously. Yet there is a twist: in harmonic and melodic terms, Hoketus offers a spicier, more pungent variant of American minimalism.
Spinoza
di 2 jun. 26 20:15
Spinoza is a bold and moving musical by NITE and Club Guy & Roni, in collaboration with HIIIT and Het Muziek. It tells the story of a brother and two sisters — Bento, Rebecca, and Miriam — growing up in the Portuguese-Jewish refugee community of 17th-century Amsterdam.
Bento is a free thinker. He dares to radically question God, faith, and tradition. He asks questions — too sharp, too free. Rebecca chooses safety within the community, choosing to belong. Miriam longs for a freedom that does not exist for her, simply because she is a woman. While the children begin with a close bond, they gradually grow apart and distance emerges between them. Love becomes forbidden. Ideas become dangerous. And tolerance suddenly proves to be a fragile and elastic concept.
Spinoza is a deeply human story in the form of a musical about love, conviction, and the courage to think differently. It shows that a society cannot exist with only one voice. We need the thinkers who dare to question everything. We need people who remind us where we come from. And we need bridge-builders: people who connect, who bring opposing sides together, especially when differences run deep. Only together do we remain human. Only together do we remain free.
Ways Of [ ]
vr 5 jun. 26 19:00
What does it mean to be human in a world where other forms of intelligence also exist? Audiovisual artist and composer Zeno van den Broek poses this question at a time when artificial intelligence is evolving at lightning speed. His latest work, Ways of [ ], is more urgent than ever.
In Ways of [ ], Van den Broek brings humans and machines together in a single musical and visual experience. He composed the piece for two innovative music ensembles – HIIIT and Percussions de Strasbourg – as well as for four digital “musicians”: self-playing percussion machines that perform autonomously while also responding live to the human percussionists. To musically train these digital entities, Van den Broek fed their algorithms with rhythms from industrial history: think steam engines, looms, and other mechanical systems. In this way, the digital players learn – just like humans – from their predecessors and from their musical environment.
Ways of [ ] is an audiovisual composition that feels like the emergence of a new kind of shared intelligence. You see and hear the digital and human musicians gradually learning to understand each other: hesitant at first, then increasingly fluid. In three largely improvised sections, the players discover their own voice and eventually find a shared musical language.
With Ways of [ ], Van den Broek invites the audience to reflect on what intelligence truly is – and what it means to be human.
News
Ways of [ ] presented during STRP and Rewire
10 Mar 2026