On Wednesday 14 January 2026, acclaimed soprano Susan Narucki presents a recital at the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, San Diego, United States. An evening of music that explores the fusion of poetry and music through the prism of a wide range of compositional styles and practices. With longtime colleague and […]
Tag: ecologica
come sempre (2025) for soprano and coloratura
Come sempre is a new duo for soprano and coloratura soprano by Rozalie Hirs, commissioned by Susan Narucki and dedicated to its first performers, Susan Narucki (soprano) and Kirsten Ashley Wiest (coloratura soprano). The text is taken from the opening poem of Hirs’ eighth collection, ecologica (Uitgeverij Vleugels, 2023), here sung in the Italian translation by Patrizia Filia, to be published in the Italian edition of ecologica (Nous Editrice, Catania, 2026; forthcoming).
At the heart of come sempre lies the joy of singing — and of singing together. Hirs deliberately writes clear, singable melodic lines that move around broadly conceived, flexible tonal centres, which shift gradually to create a transparent, responsive harmonic landscape. The two voices engage in multiple forms of interaction: dialogue and responsorial exchange, completing each other’s melody or text, shaping a single line together, or moving in parallel melody and functional harmony. Vocal roles alternate throughout, without a fixed hierarchy.
performance – poetry international, rotterdam
On Saturday 14 June 2025 at 13:00 CET, Maricela Guerrero (Mexico City, 1977) and Rozalie Hirs perform as part of the program Sustainable Poetry Development at Poetry International Rotterdam, The Netherlands. They will present their work and engage in conversation with fellow poet and scholar Mia You. The event takes […]
ecologica (2023) selected for longlist grote poëzieprijs 2024
14 March 2024. Today, the longlist for De Grote Poëzie Prijs (The Great Poetry Prize, The Netherlands) 2024 was announced in the press, including on Tzum. From just under a hundred books of poetry published last year, the jury chose the following longlist of twelve collections, in alphabetical order: Anker […]
the ecological system – avonden, perdu, amsterdam
On Friday evening 15 March 2024 at 8PM, the literary venue Perdu presents the ecological system. During this evening, poet/composer Rozalie Hirs and writer/artist Miek Zwamborn unite topics that keep recurring in their poetry, music, and visual work. Immerse yourself in this dialogue of lyrical, playful language experiments and odes […]
bron (2023) en ecologica (2023), podium, radio 4
On Saturday 20 January 2024 from 17:00-19:00, Wouter Pleijsier (pictured above on the left) is presenter of the Podium broadcast on Radio 4, The Netherlands. Today in the programme, parts of the orchestral work source (2023) by Rozalie Hirs, performed by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elena Schwarz (conductor), […]
poetry reading from ecologica, muze van zuid, amsterdam
On 17 September 2023 at 13:00, Rozalie Hirs performs eight poems, selected from her new collection ecologica (Uitgeverij Vleugels, 2023) at the Muze van Zuid Festival in Amsterdam. The event is at a secret location near Sarphatipark, Amsterdam; we gather at 12:30 CET at Het Groen Gemaal in Sarphatipark (entrance […]
no fence stops the ants – review jeroen dera, de standaard
20 May 2023. Published today is Jeroen Dera’s review ‘no fence stops the ants’, an elaborate dicussion on the twenty-fifth poem ‘sneak inside’, selected from ecologica by Rozalie Hirs. He writes, among other things: “The fascinating thing about Hirs’ poetry is that it takes its readers by the hand (‘Sneak […]
ecologica (2023), seedlings: poetry & ecology, amsterdam – book presentation
On 2 April 2023 at 15:00 CET at the Perdu Foundation in Amsterdam, Saskia Stehouwer and Rozalie Hirs present their new poetry collections wonen op de rand van het wonder (Publisher Marmer, 2023) and ecologica (Publisher Vleugels, 2023). During the program zaailingen (seedlings): poetry & ecology, the poets Moya De […]
ecologica (2023)
“It is her most daring and possibly most personal collection to date, in the sense that the poet’s voice sounds more pervasively forceful than ever” (Helena Van Praet, Poëziekrant)
“The best-kept secret of Dutch poetry. Rozalie Hirs writes poems like no one else does. Lyrical, musical, intuitive and very precise.” (Joost Baars, De Dolfijn)
“That way the words of Hirs, who is also active as a composer, are like music: the chords flow into one another rhythmically, quite oblivious of the boundaries of a sentence.” (Jeroen Dera, De Standaard)
“Hirs has managed to fashion a very urgent contemporary problem, climate change, into a lyrical stream of words. Doing so, she connects the magic of poetry to the biting irony of protest.” (Helena Van Praet, Poëziekrant)