Durven Voelen

Durven Voelen is an intimate music performance where multilingual world music, jazz, and Dutch-language lyrics converge. In this new production by music theatre collective Ode to the Lament, the lament takes center stage, not as something to be suppressed, but as a force that creates space for vulnerability, expression, and connection.

Vocalist and creator Susan Meijburg explores how ancient West Asian vocal traditions resonate in the here and now. Together with an ensemble of violin, oud, and piano, she crafts a sound world that oscillates between meditation and confrontation, stillness and emotion. The songs carry stories of female strength, oppression, emancipation, and feminism, both personal and socially charged. Durven Voelen is Susan Meijburg’s first full-length music performance, demonstrating how music theatre can serve as a shared space for listening, feeling, and reflection. The performance invites the audience to open themselves to what often remains unspoken, and it examines how collective mourning and voice can find a place on stage.