Via Musica Festival: Kofferbak Collectief – ‘The Vegetarian Hunting Cantata’

A light-hearted drama set to music by Bach! ‘The Vegetarian Hunting Cantata’ seeks to raise big questions in a light-hearted and accessible way. The performance style is grotesque and comical. Produced in collaboration with Opera2day.

Programme notes

In a country house, somewhere deep in the woods, a group of people have retreated to take part in a very special ritual. Through an extensive therapy session, they are attempting to say goodbye to those whom society has long since given up on: themselves.

The group consists mainly of hunters. Old money, posh, but down on their luck. The only thing they have left is hunting. The last tradition that hasn’t yet been ruined by yuppies. With their dogs in the woods, they feel at one with nature and like a country squire of yesteryear. But society portrays their traditions as inhumane and elitist, so they will have to say goodbye.

An extensive course of group therapy follows to prepare the hunters for the new world. Meanwhile, the traumatised red deer is rehabilitated and Diana, the goddess of the hunt, appears to make a final attempt to defend her right to exist.

With a healthy dose of humour and self-deprecation, ‘The Vegetarian Hunting Cantata’ poses big questions about tradition, change and the spirit of the times. The Kofferbak Collectief holds up a mirror to itself and the audience. After all, how do you say goodbye to ideas, habits and beliefs that have seemed self-evident for years?

Programme

• Johann Sebastian Bach – Hunting Cantata, BWV 208 (loosely inspired)
• Miscellaneous – a wide-ranging repertoire from the Baroque period and beyond

The musicians

The Kofferbak Collectief
The Kofferbak Collectief creates mobile musical theatre that brings opera closer to the audience. Building on a strong musical foundation, the creators develop accessible and contemporary productions, sung in Dutch and full of humour, imagination and relatable themes.

Everything needed for a performance fits into a single car boot. Using this, the company transforms a variety of locations into a temporary opera stage and demonstrates that musical theatre can take place anywhere.

Performers
Klaartje van Veldhoven – soprano
Mattijs van de Woerd – baritone
Roman Brasser – tenor
Renée Bekkers – accordion & arrangements
Charles Watt – cello

Festival Via Musica

This year marks the nineteenth edition of the Via Musica Festival. For four days, from 13 to 16 August 2026, music will be played at various locations across Flevoland: by the water in Lelystad, in Almere, in the open countryside of the Noordoostpolder, in Zeewolde and in Dronten.

The festival presents chamber music in the broadest sense of the word. Early music, classical repertoire, new compositions and sometimes even world music. Musicians from the Netherlands and abroad come together in programmes that have been carefully curated and are often conceived especially for the festival.

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Music at the Drawing Board’. After all, much music doesn’t begin on stage, but at a table – with paper, a pencil and an idea that slowly takes shape. View the full programme.