Thank you to everyone who joined yesterday at the Hofvijver and Koninklijke Schouwburg for the unforgettable opening evening of Rewire 2025. Today, we share our first in a series of daily guides into Rewire’s music programme. With so many artists to see, this is just a small selection of potential highlights to catch among an expansive programme of performances, talks, installations, and screenings across the city. Be sure to check out the full programme timetable here, including the Proximity Music: Echoes of Entropy exhibition, our film programme at Filmhuis Den Haag, and the discussions, audio walks, and workshops hosted as part of our context programme.
Colin Stetson – Amare - Concertzaal, 19:15
Playing live in the Netherlands for the first time in six years, saxophonist and composer Colin Stetson brings his latest album The Love It Took to Leave You to Amare’s exquisite concert hall. His awe-inspiring technique of circular breathing is married with a compositional approach that doesn’t shy away from the darkness that lurks beneath the surface. The melancholia of his droney, spectral songs never sinks into travesty, as all of the urgent, human desperation in his songs is made buoyant through an impossible sense of hope and rebirth – summoned into being by the melody and rhythm of his horns and his breath.
Nala Sinephro – Amare - Concertzaal, 20:35
Amare’s concert hall is brought to life again later this evening by the mystical jazz of London-based Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer, and musician Nala Sinephro. Coming up in London’s then-burgeoning new jazz scene after dropping out of school for composition, Sinephro learned through experimentation and collaboration – honing her production and compositional skills while refining her expertise in her instruments of choice: the synthesiser and the harp. Sinephro’s debut album on Warp Records, Space 1.8 (2021), established her as a rising star of spiritual jazz; follow-up Endlessness (2024) cemented that position.
Verdensteatret ‘Flat Sun’ – Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 1, 17:35 and 21:45
Since 1986, Oslo-based artist collective Verdensteatret have worked continuously, pushing the boundaries of theatre and visual art. Today, the collective consists of video and sound artists, painters and poets, and sculptors and computer programmers who join together to create intricate audiovisual works. One such piece, Flat Sun, is performed twice today at Theater aan het Spui. This unmissable and unique work combines an extended cinema experience with that of a concert and a theatrical performance to create a one-of-a-kind encounter.
Loto Retina – The Grey Space in the Middle - Basement, 22:00
Self-described as "drum 'n' gnome," it is not so far-fetched to imagine Loto Retina as some fantastical creature who just happened to wander into this mortal realm – and their songs don't do a lot to refute this possibility. Their high-fructose music – which has been released on cult labels such as Orange Milk and Promesses – combines micro-sample chaos and gloopy bass with unpredictable percussion to create a congregation of organic and mechanical sounds. For Loto Retina, there may be no better venue than the sweaty basement of The Grey Space in the Middle. There, listen to their chimeric avant-gardener concatenations, performed across a multitude of ensnared sequencers, tangled MIDI-cables, well-worn samplers, and battered drum pads.
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly ‘MESTIZX’ – Korzo - Zaal, 22:30
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly bring the exuberant and mystical MESTIZX to the stage of Korzo – accompanied by Ben Boye, Matthew Lux, and Ben LaMar Gay. MESTIZX (2024), on International Anthem, is a dreamy album whose branches grow in many directions. Drawing inspirations from their Bolivian, Brazilian, and Puerto Rican ancestry, Ferragutti & Rosaly make incantations with their instruments, drawing magic out from these deep roots and channelling it into their resistance songs. Their music forms a habitat for burgeoning percussion and melody. Although jazzy and experimental at its core, their music contains echoes of many influences, from the folk tradition of Bolivia to the psychedelic Tropicália fusions of Brazil. It is vivacious and soft, building a unique ecology of rumbling, bubbling vibrations.
Kinlaw – Theater aan het Spui - Zaal 2, 22:45 (also on Saturday & Sunday)
Multidisciplinary artist Kinlaw works presents the European premiere of her new live performance each evening at the festival. Kinlaw’s live shows are part choreography, part popstar, and part chaos – fusing her electrifying calisthenic electronica with theatrical staging and unbridled movement. On her newly released sophomore album, gut ccheck (2025), delicate and harmonious chamber pop is transposed with whirling and energetic industrial tracks – creating an unfolding sense of movement and stillness, battling an eternal tug of war.
Clarissa Connelly – Lutherse Kerk, 23:30
Never stuck in one place, Clarissa Connelly’s labyrinthian vocal style is monumental and vast, sounding and moving between the soft confidence of Joni Mitchell and the broad intoxicating harmonies of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. Her debut for Warp Records, World of Work (2024), is an experimental pop marvel of entangling melodies and sharp instrumentation. Connelly’s music melds crystalline folk with louder moments that are fuzzy with shoegaze textures of distortion, echo, and delay – yet her voice takes centre stage amidst the sonorous sounds she produces. Listen to her mirage-like compositions and songs at Lutherse Kerk just before the clock strikes midnight.
Clarissa Connelly is an artist of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and interdisciplinary art, co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia.
Takkak Takkak – Concordia, 00:30
Takkak Takkak is an energetic new project from Indonesian composer, instrument-builder, and multi-instrumentalist J. "Mo'ong" Santoso Pribadi – one half of Raja Kirik – and Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara – aka DJ Scotch Egg. On their eponymous debut for Nyege Nyege, the duo hack together DIY instruments, building a trance-inducing kind of music that swirls with polyrhythmic fervour. Traversing along the lower-end of the frequency spectrum, their music lurks in the bassy deep waters of some sonic swampland – one whose ensnaring sub-bass is macheted by the duo’s intense drums and howling vocals. Under their marauding sound is a clearly joyful experimentation: it’s undoubtedly the work of two people revelling in the possibilities of sensuous carnage.
Lol K – Korzo - Studio, 01:15
Lol K are the South London duo of artist and musician CJ Calderwood and DJ and producer Junior XL. Among the vast sources they draw from in their songcraft are genres as diverse as post classical, grunge, and contemporary club music. Their highly varied output maintains focus by continually seeking to connect multiple – seemingly distant – sonic worlds. Catch one of Lol K’s "genreless" live sets at Korzo, where Jersey kicks clash against doom-laden atmospherics, soaring string sections, and detuned riffs.
AKA HEX (Aïsha Devi & Slikback) – PAARD I, 01:15
Returning to Rewire in a new collaborative assemblage, avant-pop producer and vocalist Aïsha Devi and DJ and producer Slikback present their brand new project AKA HEX at PAARD I. Slikback’s unique fusion of contemporary club styles like techno, dubstep, jungle, breakbeat, footwork, trap, and drill meet with Devi’s powerful voice and unique production style in this exciting project – marking Devi's most dancefloor-focused work in years. Warbly rave-synth lines and alluring yet monstrous processed vocals stir atop bubbling bass drums and chunky noise in their cauldron of sound.
Photo by Rogier Boogaard