The Cultural Prize of Drenthe 2024 goes to Marion van den Akker. She is co-founder of Stichting Klassiek in ‘t Veen, which organizes annual concerts in Valthermond. Van den Akker provided the programming for this for more than 20 years.
On Monday, April 15, Van den Akker will be presented with this oeuvre prize in d’Rentmeester in Valthermond.
According to the jury, Marion van den Akker has made special achievements in the cultural field in Drenthe with Klassiek in ‘t Veen. She has brought classical music to a place where people would not immediately expect it. The unique concert farm in Valthermond is a household name in the (classical) music world far beyond Drenthe.
“It is very special that we have a location in our province where real world stars from the classical music world perform,” said deputy Jisse Otter. “Valthermond is not an obvious location for such a beautiful concert stage with a special chamber music series. Marion van den Akker has built this from the ground up and certainly deserves the Drenthe Cultural Prize.”
Van den Akker is an alto-mezzo and in 2002 she and her husband, pianist Rian de Waal, moved into the monumental shrinking farm ‘Onder de linden’ on the Zuiderdiep in Valthermond. Together they converted part of the farm into a concert hall.
Well-known names in Drenthe
With the Klassiek in ‘t Veen foundation they launched a chamber music series, with about ten concerts per year. Thanks to their large network in the (inter)national music world, they managed to bring famous names to Drenthe, such as Arthur and Lucas Jussen and the Romanian soprano Nelly Miricioiu. They also offered young talent a platform.
Both the concert hall and the recording studio are praised for their acoustics. The concert farm is also a permanent location of the Peter the Great Festival (nowadays Aurora Festival), the largest chamber music festival in the Northern Netherlands.
In 2020, the farm had a new owner and the name changed to d’Rentmeester. The unique concert hall, recording studio and concert series were retained, with Van den Akker as programmer for Klassiek in ‘t Veen. This year she transferred that task to Jan-Ype Nota and became a member of the recommendation committee.