Holland Festival: Qaqnas

Name: Holland Festival: Qaqnas - Huba de Graaf / Naaz in coproductie met Holland Festival
Start: 2026-06-14T20:30:00+02:00
Location: Frascati, Amsterdam

Huba de Graaf / Naaz in coproductie met Holland Festival

Thu 11 Jun ’26 - Sun 14 Jun ’26

Poetry, rebellious women, do-it-yourself-electronics and extravagant costumes: an energetic all-female Kurdish opera about freedom comes to life.

musical theatre

Thu 11 Jun ’26

Sun 14 Jun ’26

Thu 11 Jun ’26

20:30

Try-out

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Final tickets

Fri 12 Jun ’26

20:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Final tickets

Sat 13 Jun ’26

20:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Final tickets

Sun 14 Jun ’26

20:30

Frascati, Amsterdam

Frascati 1

Final tickets

What does freedom mean for women today? Qaqnas is a powerful, musical ode to that question. This new opera places voice, electronics and resistance at its center. Inspired by the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (woman, life, freedom) that originated in the Kurdish women’s movement and gained global recognition after the protests in Iran, Qaqnas shows how fragile freedom truly is.

Composer Huba de Graaff often writes experimental opera's and explores the boundary between speech and music in Qaqnas: what kind of music emerges when singing in a forbidden language? Naaz Mohammad, Naaz in short, is a Dutch-Kurdisch singer-songwriter who brings deeply personal lyrics, often layered with a lot of emotional depth.

This performance takes place in a kitchen that doubles as an electronic music studio. Here, a fully female cast operates the equipment themselves. They sing in Kurdish, a language long forbidden, now sounding loud, proud, and unrestrained. The opera is based on a poem by Kurdish poet Tarza Jaff and tells the story of women who dare to leave, who take flight and pay the price for it.

Qaqnas fuses DIY kitchen electronics with opera, poetry with energy, intimacy with rebellion. A thrilling performance about strength, solidarity, and claiming space.

Aftertalk

On Saturday, June 13, there will be an aftertalk with Huba de Graaff.

Duration: 75 mins.
Language: Sorani
Surtitles: English, Dutch
Podiumpas not valid for Holland Festival performances

Credits

vocals Naaz composition Huba de Graaff electronics Huba de Graaff music performed by Nora Mulder, Katharina Gross, Mei-Yi Lee direction Ria Marks lighting design Varja Klosse costumes Leila el Alaoui in coproduction with Holland Festival