Stephan Sanders (1) (1961–)

Why could classical music not be enjoyed by everyone? The fact remains that concert audiences are largely white, and only very few coloured people find their way to the concert hall. The same is true for classical musicians and singers. Exploring the reasons why, and looking for ways to break down barriers, Stephan Sanders interviewed nine professionals from the world of classical music: Claron McFadden, Aldith Hunkar, Jaap van Zweden, Yannick Hiwat, Paul Scheffer, Orville Breeveld, Tania show more Kross, Jet Bussemaker and Vinod Subramaniam. They each have their story and views on the question how classical concerts can be made more accessible to a wider audience. The book is a publication of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Stephan Sanders is an interesting author, and the afterword, which is a reflection of the sharing of ideas of the author and the CEO of the Concertgebouw is as interesting and revealing as the other interviews. The Netherlands is quite far behind in these issues, compared with the United States.

It is an interesting small book, because interviews with musicians about topics other than music are rare. show less

Stephan Sanders is a Dutch author, who writes for various media and also presents television programmes. Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties he travels to destinations to explore his roots. Thus, Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties contains about 100 pages of longer essays, followed by another 100 pages of short columns of travelogues and introspection.

Stephan Sanders has spent extended periods of time in South Africa and Surinam. His essays are well-informed about the show more political situation, but always seek a personal edge. Almost all essays and columns refer to the author on the prowl in an attempt to find handsome men to get laid. In many cases Sanders makes these occasional gay lovers his informers or uses them to assess the advance of the human rights situation or the general level of freedom. This, inevitably, leads to difficult situations engendered by cultural differences, or blurred by other issues such as differences in material wealth between the author and his lovers. For readers wondering what the value of such observations then might be, there seems to be just one answer. The value is determined just only by the value derived from the situation by the author. Therefore, the essays and prose in this collection are on the edge of a fine balance between hedonism and very personal essays. show less

Toevalligheden, vingerwijzingen, voorzienigheid. Over katholiek geloven, schaamte en de voorsprong van de homoseksueel is the text of a lecture, the 2022 Frans Kellendonk Lecture, in honor of the Dutch writer Frans Kellendonk. This lecture is an excellent compendium to Stephan Sanders' book Godschaamte. Een eigentijdse expeditie op zoek naar God, which was published in 2021.

The lecture gives a very brief overview of Sanders experience with the crossroads between literature, homosexuality and show more gay life in the capital city,Amsterdam. It touches upon the religious experience of fellow writers, such as Jan Willem Otten and Frans Kellendonk, and zooms in on Kellendonk's understanding of Joost van den Vondel's poem Altaergeheimnissen, written in 1645.

Sanders shows how Kellendonk was able to preserve a true sense of religion is a society at the height of secularization, and reconcile a homosexual lifestyle with religion, which was then still very much associated with taboo. Sanders explores how to overcome the shame to return to religion from a life-long denial of the faith.

For all its conciseness, the small booklet paints an interesting portrait of a certain part of the gay scene of Amsterdam in the 1980s, in the medieval city center between the Basilica of Saint Nicolas, De Kroonprins and the Shako, and the wanderings of Frans Kellendonk, Jan Willem Otten, Stephan Sanders and pater Jan van Kilsdonk. show less

Self-respecting Dutch intellectuals live in Amsterdam, a city with a long history and renowned for its liberal and free-thinking policies. Almere City, the youngest city in the Netherlands, created in 1976 in the Flevoland Polder, the newest Dutch land reclaiming projects, is usually looked down upon, as are its inhabitants, who are mostly believed to be low-class. Thus, Almere City is believed to be a fourth-rate city, a cultural desert lacking style and hopelessly provincial.

From February show more through June 2010, Stephan Sanders accepted the invitation of the city council of Almere to live there as a writer in residence. So, Sanders took up residence there at a distance of just 33.7 kilometers from his home in Amsterdam (p.26).

Stephan Sanders is a cosmopolitan Dutch citizen, openly gay, and deeply involved in the Dutch cultural scene as an author, freelance journalist, and TV & Radio host. Having suffered from a serious depression, Sanders' writings in the past three years seem more than previously concerned with looking for identity. Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir already belongs to his best writing.

Apparently very comfortable with his identity as a gay man, Sanders' writing shows that his reflections on identity are more focused on his ethnic background, as already became clear, in Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (reviewed here). Of mixed parentage his biological father being a South African Coloured, Stephan Sanders was adopted and raised in the Netherlands by Dutch foster parents. In Zon, zee, oorlog. Reisverhalen & introspecties (2007), Sanders explored his ethnic roots in South Africa and Surinam.

In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir Stephan Sanders search for his own identity is contrasted with reflections on the life of his close friend Anil Ramdas, who settled in the Netherlands in 1977, shortly after the independence of Surinam. Anil Ramdas, born in Paramaribo, was a Dutch-Surinam essayist, journalist and TV host, with whom Sanders often worked together. Ramdas' took his own life on 16 February 2012.

Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir described the hopes and dreams of Anil Ramdas with respect to racial integration and the emancipation of the Surinam ethnic minority in the Netherlands. The cultural and political climate in the Netherlands was very positive and optimistic throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. As friends, Sanders and Ramdas traveled together to the Dutch Antilles and Surinam. They shared many ideas and dreams, by their shared ethnic and cultural background.

In Iets meer dan een seizoen. Memoir, the three story-lines, the development of the city of Almere, the life of Anil Ramdas and the life of Stephan Sanders are brought together, and cleverly entwined. The book is a profound reflection on the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. Highly recommended. show less