Dutch Touring Opera with Club Guy & Roni - Waiting for the Barbarians

Name: Dutch Touring Opera with Club Guy & Roni - Waiting for the Barbarians
Start: 2026-09-26
End: 2026-09-26
Location: SPOT/Stadsschouwburg

took place · 26 Sep 2026

SPOT/Stadsschouwburg, Groningen

opera culture

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Description was written before the event

Club Guy & Roni presents Philip Glass' 'Waiting for the Barbarians' on Thursday, 24 September at SPOT Groningen, housed in the former Stadsschouwburg on Turfsingel. The Nederlandse Reisopera and Club Guy & Roni perform this masterwork together with singers, dancers and orchestra. This marks the first of six Dutch dates for the production. SPOT Groningen hosts a range of performances, from intimate side halls to larger stages. Tickets cost € 7,50.

Club Guy & Roni — also plays in other cities (7)

all dates →

About: Club Guy & Roni

Since 2002, Guy Weizman and Roni Haver have built a Groningen-based company whose productions blend dance, live music and text into socially engaged theatre that tours across the Netherlands and beyond.

2013

won first Golden Swan

2025

won Golden Swan oeuvre prize

2026-02

received Jiří Kylián Ring

2013

won Golden Mask Award (Russia)

What's new

2026-09
Club Guy & Roni premieres the opera Waiting for the Barbarians, a co-production with the Dutch Reisopera and the North Netherlands Orchestra, based on the novel by J.M. Coetzee with music by Philip Glass.
2026-08
Bad Nature, the co-production with the Australasian Dance Collective, is programmed at the Sziget Festival in Budapest.
2026-02
Club Guy & Roni receives the Jiří Kylián Ring for their impact on the Dutch and international dance world and their commitment to interdisciplinary theater.

Tour

GroningenBredaEmmenLeeuwardenEnschedeUtrechtApeldoornDen HaagAlkmaar

Tracks

Bad Natureco-production with Australasian Dance Collective, world premiere Brisbane Festival 2025, followed by Dutch tour

Waiting for the Barbariansopera by Philip Glass, co-production with Dutch Reisopera and North Netherlands Orchestra, premiere September 2026

Nachtwachtpopular production that returned to Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam due to high demand

Tetris Mon Amourfour stars from de Volkskrant: 'the sharpness and energy of the dancers'

Freedomdescribed by Theaterkrant as 'overwhelming and grand'

About: Nederlandse Reisopera

Each season the Nederlandse Reisopera travels from its Enschede base to theatres across the Netherlands with fully staged productions - from baroque classics to world premieres. Working with dancers, regional orchestras and local communities, the company has spent more than sixty years making opera accessible to audiences everywhere.

60+

Year active as a touring opera company

Performances in the tour of Waiting for the Barbarians (season 2026/2027)

1000+

Singers sought for participation project The Public Domain (June 2026)

What's new

2026-05
General director Rudy van Wijk leaves the Dutch Reisopera as of January 1, 2027; the supervisory board has started the succession procedure.
2026-05
The Dutch Reisopera presented the 2026/2027 season with a new production of Philip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians as the highlight, in collaboration with dance company Club Guy & Roni and the North Netherlands Orchestra.
2026-04
The world premiere of To die for (A comedy) by Elena Langer took place on April 11, 2026 in Enschede, following an earlier delay.

Tour

GroningenBredaUtrechtMaastrichtEnschedeTilburgZwolleLeeuwardenAmersfoortHaarlemApeldoornDrachten

Tracks

Waiting for the Barbarians (Philip Glass)New production season 2026/2027, in collaboration with Club Guy & Roni and the North Netherlands Orchestra

To die for (A comedy) (Elena Langer)World premiere in Enschede, April 2026; later also in staged form at the English National Opera London

Les enfants terribles (Philip Glass)Co-production with De Nationale Opera and Opera Zuid, premiere March 2026 in Amsterdam

Het sluwe vosje (Leoš Janáček)New Dutch translation by Jibbe Willems, season 2025/2026

Nixon in China (John Adams)European premiere in 1988 - a historic highlight in the history of the company

About: Waiting for the Barbarians

Based on Coetzee's Nobel Prize-winning novel, this Philip Glass opera puts a frontier magistrate at the centre of a story about fear, propaganda and the abuse of power. Christopher Hampton wrote the libretto; the work had its world premiere in Erfurt in 2005.

135′

Playing time (two acts)

First revival after the world premiere in 2005

Performance venues in the Netherlands (tour 2026)

What's new

2026-09
The Dutch Traveling Opera brings Waiting for the Barbarians to its premiere on September 26, 2026 in Groningen - the first complete revival of the opera since the world premiere in 2005.
2026-09
The production is a co-production of the Dutch Traveling Opera, dance company Club Guy & Roni and the North Netherlands Orchestra, under the musical direction of Alice Farnham and direction by Guy Weizman.
2026-09
The tour through the Netherlands serves as the opening event for the international celebration 'Glass at 90', on the occasion of Philip Glass's ninetieth birthday in January 2027.

Tour

GroningenBredaEmmenLeeuwardenEnschedeUtrechtZwolleMaastrichtApeldoornDen Haag

Tracks

Waiting for the BarbariansOpera in two acts (2005); live recording released on Orange Mountain Music

Dutch Touring Opera with Club Guy & Roni - Waiting for the Barbarians

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