Over de Bogen

Over de Bogen, O. Festival & Rotterdamse Dagendagen Festival, Netherlands

17 May 2024 - 26 May 2024

Between May 17 and 26, 2024, O. and Rotterdam Dakendagen are organizing Over de Bogen: a walking concert in which the public travels 2 kilometers across the roof of the monumental Hofbogen in Rotterdam, right through 4 city districts.

Musical walk tells stories from Rotterdam on the Hofbogen

Especially for Over de Bogen, we are composing new music: live performances and songs with stories of the residents around the Hofbogen, written by Merel Smitt and translated into text by Corinne Heyrman. Over de Bogen is the very first and very last chance to take this walk before this roof changes forever.

Musical walk tells stories from Rotterdam on the Hofbogen

Especially for Over de Bogen, we are composing new music, live performances and songs with stories of the residents around the Hofbogen, written by Merel Smitt and translated into text by Corinne Heyrman. Over de Bogen is the very first and very last chance to take this walk before this roof changes forever.

 

performers

Madeline Saputra soprano
Els Mondelaers mezzo soprano
Helianthe Redan singer, solist
Arturo den Hartog countertenor
Michaela Riener soprano
Anissa Rouas singer, performer
Linde Schinkel soprano
Mijke Sekhuis soprano

Walk With Me
We are creating a new version in our Walk With Me series for Over de Bogen, combining ambient sound and spoken text with music. Together with writer Corinne Heyrman, artist Merel Smitt, herself a resident of one of the neighborhoods surrounding the line, is recording stories of residents and those involved in the transformation of this object. These stories highlight not only the rich past of the train connection, but also what this object means for the neighborhood now and the expectations surrounding the realization of the future Dakpark Hofbogen.

The collected stories and live sounds from the city will be interwoven by us with new music and live singing. The audience will soon enter a special acoustic world as they walk across the arches and literally and figuratively follow the traces of history to the present and future.

Walk across the arches
Since the last trains passed over the Hofbogen, the stretch from Hofplein to the highway has never before been open to the public. Over the Arches can be visited in two ways between May 17 and 26. In the first and last weekend, special live performances of the composition can be experienced in the form of a walking concert using headphones, in which the composition will constantly change in interplay with the surroundings.

In addition, visitors can walk the Hofbogen daily and listen to the music through installations along the route. These special sound screens they encounter will let the music be heard only to the passerby. Ticket sales for both walks start April 4 via o-festival.nl, the live performance can also be attended with a day ticket for O.

Hofbogen Park
On the Hofbogen railroad viaduct a special city park is coming. Where the Hofpleinlijn used to run between Rotterdam and The Hague, you will soon be able to walk between the tops of the trees. At 2 kilometers long, the park will be the longest rooftop park in the Netherlands. Construction of the park will start in 2025 and by the end of 2027 the black roof will have turned into a green carpet.

Over de Bogen is partly made possible by the collaboration with owner-developer Dudok Real Estate and the project team Hofbogenpark of the municipality of Rotterdam.