Let the music play: Grachtenfestival Amsterdam

With more than 250 concerts on 90 venues, the Grachtenfestival offers a programme for every taste and preference. A large part of the concerts will be held outdoors, on cruise ships, under bridges or in underground tunnels. But also in stylish rooms of monumental canal buildings or in hotel suites. Some events take place in private mansions, in gardens or on rooftop terraces. Many of these concerts are free.

The stars of the Grachtenfestival are the musicians. Most of them are young, still studying at the conservatory or recently graduated and well underway to establishing a career as a musician.  

The highlight of the canal festival is the Prinsengracht concert. This classical concert is performed on a pontoon in the canal in front of the famous Pulitzer Hotel. The hotel consists of 25 interconnected canal houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. The audience listens from the shore or from hundreds of small boats on the water. The Prinsengrachtconcert takes place on August 18th.

The Grachtenfestival attracts about 50,000 visitors every year. 

at/ks (holland.com)