Unbound - More than meets the ear at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Image credit: Melle Meivogel
The 2026–2027 season presents leading artists, premieres and new series. With over 300 concerts, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ makes the 2026–2027 season a powerful statement for contemporary music.
One of the most exciting new series is Unbound, bringing leading international musicians, new compositions, and adventurous concert formats together in a programme that pushes boundaries and aims to reach new audiences.
New music for new audiences
With new series and programming that bring together different musical traditions, Muziekgebouw is firmly committed to audience development. With Unbound, the Muziekgebouw explores two extremes of how music can be experienced today: as an interdisciplinary total experience or as a concentrated listening experience.
Image credit: Het Barre Land © Michel Schnater
Discover Unbound at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Unbound is a new series for those who want more than sitting still and applauding at the right moment. Sound gains a face, movement finds a voice, and light becomes part of the storytelling. Don’t expect fixed formats, but evenings with a theatrical touch that challenge and surprise you. For curious listeners, cultural explorers, and anyone who enjoys being moved.
One of the standout performances in the new Unbound series is Storm, an interdisciplinary collaboration between OFFprojects, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, and British multi-instrumentalist and composer Shabaka Hutchings.
For Storm, Hutchings has created the musical composition, providing the work with a distinctive sound world that moves between jazz, rhythm and improvisation. Hutchings, who performed at the 2026 edition of North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, is one of the leading voices in London’s contemporary jazz scene, known for his rhythmic intensity and his ability to bridge musical traditions.
Together with OFFprojects’ boundary-pushing contemporary dance, the music explores the vitality of the unpredictable. Storm brings contemporary dance and jazz into close dialogue, revealing how the two disciplines can amplify each other in precision, energy and poetry.
Image credit: Shabaka Hutchings
Unbound agenda
Here's what you can expect during the Unbound series at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ:
- Storm features the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw x OFFprojects, with music by Shabaka Hutchings and dance by Amos Ben-Tal, on November 26 at 8.30pm.
- Nederlands Blazers Ensemble with Duda Paiva Company perform Breath of the Forest, a confronting and soul-stirring sensory experience on November 29 at 8.15pm.
- Baroque composers flex their muscles in Machos, a concert featuring Pynarello, an Utrecht-based group of free-thinking musicians, on January 24 at 8.15pm.
- Till Death Do Us Part (or Not) is a darkly comic, macabre performance by Amsterdam Sinfonietta and ISH Dance Collective on February 18-19 at 8.15pm.
- DESCENT x ASCENT is a performance by the Cello Octet, Of Curious Nature and Samir Calixto. This multidisciplinary performance features the spellbinding music of Pēteris Vasks on March 5 at 8.15pm.
- Dudok Quartet performs Seven Last Words, which sees Haydn's music staged as a contemplative drama on March 25 at 8.15pm.
Image credit: ©Peter Lodder
Other highlights of the 26–27 season
- Leading soloists in the piano series
- International star singers will perform in the Great Singers series
- Leading string quartets
- Chamber orchestras, choirs and ensembles combine classical repertoire with new music
- Jazz, global and crossover music with groundbreaking artists
- The 11th edition of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam: the world’s largest cello festival, running for 10 days in October and November at the Muziekgebouw and Bimhuis.
About Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ
Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ is one of the leading concert halls in the Netherlands, and the foremost venue for contemporary music and related genres, including classical, jazz, world and electronic music. The building is beautifully situated on the IJ in the heart of Amsterdam, hosting over 300 concerts annually and systematically programming a large number of world and Dutch premieres each season, giving Muziekgebouw a unique position, both nationally and internationally.
Ticket sales
Ticket sales for the 2026–2027 season are on sale. Get your tickets on the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ website. This performance series is presented in collaboration with Bimhuis.
Image credit: Foppe Schut