The piece that changed Dutch music returns to Amsterdam. Get your tickets to this great event on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam.

A landmark work with lasting impact

As Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the city, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ offers a concert that connects the energy of today’s electronic scene to one of its most radical musical predecessors. On October 22, 2026, Het Muziek performs Louis Andriessen’s legendary Hoketus, a work that still feels startlingly modern 50 years after it first appeared. 

Paired with a brand new composition by Michael Gordon, this concert places one of the most influential Dutch pieces of the 20th century in direct dialogue with the present.
For anyone interested in the roots of minimal music, experimental sound or the sharper edges of electronic culture, this is a compelling night in the ADE programme. Hoketus is the grandfather of modern electronic music.

The sound of resistance

When Louis Andriessen wrote Hoketus in the 1970s, he broke decisively with convention. The piece rejects romantic expression and smooth orchestral sound in favour of hard rhythmic pulses, repetition, physical intensity and rough-edged instrumental colour.

Built around the hocket principle, in which notes rapidly alternate between two groups of players, the music creates a tense, driving effect that feels almost mechanical in its precision and unstoppable in its momentum.

That radical approach made Hoketus a defining work in Dutch music history. Its stripped-down language and propulsive energy opened up new possibilities for composers and performers, but its reach extended far beyond the concert hall.

The piece has resonated with artists working in minimal, post-punk, industrial and techno, and its influence can still be heard in music built on repetition, clash and pulse. Long before electronic dance music became a global force, Andriessen was exploring a similarly physical relationship between rhythm, structure and sound.

A new work by Michael Gordon

This anniversary performance does more than look back. American composer Michael Gordon, co-founder of the influential Bang on a Can collective, has written a new work especially for the occasion. Described as a mirror composition to Hoketus, it responds to Andriessen’s piece head-on and continues the line of musical thinking it set in motion.

That makes this concert especially exciting. Gordon is not a composer who softens edges or settles for reverence. Like Andriessen, he is drawn to music with grit, force and momentum. His new work promises a fresh confrontation with the legacy of Hoketus, showing how this sound world can still generate new ideas and new tension today.

Why this fits ADE so well

Although this concert is performed by an ensemble rather than DJs or producers, it belongs naturally within the wider context of Amsterdam Dance Event. At its core, Hoketus is about pulse, repetition and sonic impact. It shares with club culture a fascination with rhythm as a physical experience and with sound as something you feel as much as hear.

Performed live by Het Muziek, one of the Netherlands’ leading ensembles for contemporary music, this programme offers an intense, concentrated listening experience that will appeal to adventurous concertgoers and electronic music fans alike. For expats looking to explore ADE from a different angle, this is a chance to hear where some of that radical musical energy began.

Event details

• Date and time: Thursday, October 22, 2026, 8.15pm-9.30pm
• Pre-concert talk: 7.15pm, Foyerdeck 1, by Michel Khalifa
• Venue: Main Hall, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Piet Heinkade 1, 1019 BR Amsterdam
• Tickets: 12,50 euros - 43 euros, available via the Muziekgebouw website

Get tickets

Get your tickets on the official Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ website.