About the festival

The Grachtenfestival is the largest festival in the Netherlands in the field of classical music and jazz. Every year, the festival offers young talent a stage throughout Amsterdam for ten days to present themselves. Based on the pillars of talent development, distribution and innovation, a balance between traditional and contemporary music is presented throughout the city. 

The musicians are encouraged to collaborate, push their boundaries and find their voice. Through individual guidance, the festival lays a stable foundation for personal development and a career in music. In addition to regular concerts and pop-ups, there are also a number of specific series with annually recurring concerts: the Junior Grachtenfestival, Huis, Tuin en Dakterrasconcerten, Jong Talent in de Oude Wester, Grachtenfestival x Amarte concerts, Artist in Residence and the Jazz Gems.

The festival also organises its own Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours (GCC) and Grachtenfestival Jazz Competition (GJC) in which promising students from conservatories present themselves to a wide audience and have the chance to win various prizes.

• The Grachtenfestival gives young talent a unique stage and platform to excel on and present themselves to a large audience and professionals from the music world;
• The Grachtenfestival convincingly reaches a large, broad and diverse target group for classical music and jazz with free and paid concerts throughout the city;
• The Grachtenfestival embraces innovation and surprises visitors every year with unique combinations of stages, musicians and content and musicians.

Grachtenfestival develops trajectories in which musicians can develop themselves. With us, young talent flows from childhood to conservatory and ultimately – for some – to the big stages. The festival believes that various series such as radio broadcasts, workshops and neighbourhood concerts are important for musicians to develop themselves. The festival presents hundreds of (new) young talents in the field of classical and jazz with an age of up to 35 on a yearly basis.

The Grachtenfestival was once founded to move classical music out of the concert halls and to connect visitors with an accessible approach. The festival is not limited to one location, but can navigate from concert hall to allotment garden throughout the city. This ensures special collaborations with the residents of Amsterdam every year, so that a large audience group can be enriched with music. Our varied stage must reflect the diversity of the city.  

The festival is hospitable to the different musical genres on stage and to the visitors, so that everyone feels welcome. In this way we can have an impact on the musicians and the musical playing field, but also facilitate the creation of encounters between people; in, on and next to the stage.