29 Nov

20:00

Splendor Amsterdam

Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 116, Amsterdam

An evening exploring the music of composer Daniël Belinfante, who died in Auschwitz, through performance, film, and storytelling about his relative, queer cellist and resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante.

Pale Thoughts

Name: Pale Thoughts
Start: 2026-11-29T20:00:00+01:00
Location: Splendor Amsterdam

More info & tickets

"Forbidden music" in performance, film, and storytelling

Many people know the name of Frieda Belinfante: the Jewish queer cellist, resistance fighter, and the first female conductor of a professional orchestra. Fewer people know the name of her relative Daniël Belinfante, who was a composer in Amsterdam until he died in Auschwitz just before the liberation in 1945.

The core of this evening is the performance of a number of Daniël Belinfante's song sketches that have never before found their way to the stage. One of these songs, Pale Thoughts (Bleeke Gedachten), gives the evening its title, exploring the elusiveness of the past and the incomprehensibility of all times.

Together with music from the same period (by Katherine Balch, John Cage, Hildegard of Bingen, Evan Johnson, and Sarah Nemstov, among others), these songs are performed by the extraordinary singer Patricia Auchterlonie. The music is interspersed with new film vignettes, created by London-based artist—and descendant—Sam Belinfante, using new and archival material of Frieda, Daniël, and the lost Jewish quarter in Amsterdam. Nora Fischer provides stories accompanying the music and film about the history of the neighborhood, wartime resistance, and reflections from the performers themselves on genealogy and intergenerational trauma.

This evening is a collaboration with the Festival Forbidden Music Regained and the Leo Smit Foundation. Supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation and The Marcus Trust.

Sam Belinfante - film
Patricia Auchterlonie - voice
Tobias Borsboom - piano
Nora Fischer - storytelling

Please note: this evening will be in English.

Plusticket

If you are able to make an extra contribution to make this evening possible, please support us by buying the slightly more expensive plus ticket.
We have kept the prices of the regular tickets for this concert low, so that the performance is accessible to everyone.
There is no difference in seating between the plus ticket and the normal tickets; you choose your own seat upon entry.