things to see and do

Utrecht

Oude Pothuys: a small bar in a cellar at the canal. It has live music every night and no cover is charged.

Stichting Jazz Utrecht: a small club that hosts live music Wednesday through Saturday.

National Museum from Musical Clock to Street Organ: The museum collection consists of automatically playing musical instruments from the 15th century to the present day, together with their music programmes and documentation. The museum will also host the conference diner on Thursday.

Rietveld Schroder huis: The house designed by the famous dutch artist Gerrit Rietveld on the architectural principles of De Stijl.

Dick Bruna Huis: The Dick Bruna huis is a museum dedicated to the dutch artist and creator of “Miffy” Dick Bruna.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is located nearby Utrecht and can be reached within halve an hour. Trains run regularly and multiple times per hour from Utrecht Centraal. Amsterdam has countless things to see and do, here we highlight only two of the main musical attractions:

Bimhuis: One of the best concert halls in the Netherlands for listening to live Jazz ensembles.

Concertgebouw: without doubt the best concert hall to enjoy classical music.

Other recommendations

Read more about Utrecht’s exciting night life (and daytime opportunities) in The New York Times. Thanks to Olivier Lartillot for pointing this article out to us!

A couple of weeks after ISMIR the festival oude muziek (early music) will be organized. See here for more information.

North Sea Jazz Festival: the largest jazz festival of the Netherlands.

Parade: a traveling drama festival.