Nightwater premiered in Amsterdam on 12, 13, 14 September. A large-scale performance installation unfolding as a rural dream inside an urban venue, throughout the building of the Muziekgebouw.
What happens when you reimagine a folk three-day Greek rural festival in the modern surroundings of an Amsterdam concert hall? This is what Nightwater explored, the site-specific production artist, composer and director Thanasis Deligiannis created exclusively for the Muziekgebouw. With a mix of field recordings, megaphones, diverse speakers, video projections, plastic chairs, the building was transformed into a dazzling installation. From the moment the audience stepped inside, they were free to stay as long as they liked and chart their own unique course, wandering freely, revisiting spaces, and uncovering something new each time.
Continuing our long-term artistic research on the Greek rural culture — following hybrid works such as ENA ENA and the collective interdisciplinary installation Xirómero/Dryland for the Greek Pavilion at Venice Biennale — I was invited by the Muziekgebouw to compose, direct, shape and feel free to create a rather different experience. Nightwater draws from the themes of an artistic research co-directed with Yannis Michalopoulos, while also opening space for new questions about the building of the Muziekgebouw itself and the relationship with its visitors, celebrating its 20th anniversary in season 2025-26.
We teamed up with Ensemble Klang, The Rest Is Noise and Greek folk musicians, to create a 3-day-long evolving event. During the performance installation, audience could enter in groups every half an hour.
DAY 1+2– Nightwater X Ensemble Klang – Performance installation (evening)
DAY 2 – Nightwater X The Rest Is Noise (late night)
DAY 3 – Nightwater X At The Public Square (daytime)
CREDITS
Creative Team
Thanasis Deligiannis – concept, direction, composition, sound design & cinematography
Yannis Michalopoulos – concept, dramaturgy & research
Kostas Chaikalis – sound engineer & assistant sound designer
Elia Kalogianni – artistic collaborator on cinematography & installation
Yorgos Kyvernitis – cinematography
Performers
Natasa Tsakiridou – singer
Lina Alatzidou – singer
Alexandros Papageorgopoulos – clarinetist
Ensemble Klang
Saskia Lankhoorn – keyboardist
Peter Harden – electric guitarist
Joey Marijs – percussionist
The Rest Is Noise X Nightwater program featured DJs Deena Abdelwahed & Zohar.
I/O Production & Technical Team
Frank van der Weij – project manager
Rania Mavriki – production manager
Gerco van Veenen – technical director
Yan Kelleghan, Ivet Serra, Dimitra Sofroniou, Anastasia Papastefanou – (artistic & production) interns
About Nightwater: Muziekgebouw.nl
Photos by Yorgos Kyvernitis (featured photo), Pinelopi Gerasimou (1), Thanasis Deligiannis (photos 2-7), Foppe Schut (8-11, 13-14) and Jascha Bordon (12).
Nightwater is a co-production of the Muziekgebouw Productiehuis and the I/O Foundation, and is presented with the support of Het Cultuurfonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Onassis Stegi – Touring Program, HVA International, the Greek Embassy in the Netherlands, Aegean Airlines and The Greek House in Rotterdam.
