Enjoy the funky beats of jazz in Rotterdam. Relax to the high notes of excellence in The Hague. Visit some of the best secret gardens in Utrecht. Or show off your unique style in Arnhem. Whatever takes your fancy, visiting Holland’s cities guarantees you a great time this summer.

Jazzy Rotterdam
With the line-up just being announced, the 36th edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival promises another spectacular year of great music. From 8-10 July 2011, over 150 performances in 12 concert halls will cater to a wide range of musical tastes. Well-known stars like Paul Simon, Snoop Dogg, Marcus Miller, Esparanza Spalding, Tom Jones and BB King will make an appearance. However there is also plenty of up and coming talent on the programme such as James Blake, Rumer and Jonathan Jeremiah. Natalie Cole, daughter of Jazz legend Nat King Cole, will kick off the official opening on Thursday 8 July at the North Sea Jazz Gala. It also just been confirmed that platinum-selling artist Prince will close the show every evening throughout the festival.

www.northseajazz.com

Classical The Hague
Festival Classique is a classical music festival over 6 days in the historical city centre of The Hague. This year’s festival will showcase a more contemporary outlook than usual, without compromising the high quality standards of classical music. Festival Classique celebrates its 5th edition from 14-19 June 2011. The locations are unique and unexpected, all only a stroll away from parliament. From concerts onboard a floating stage (1200 seats) anchored in the water surrounding parliament to small and intimate performances at unusual locations. There are also free concerts at the Festival café and on the main stage at the Plein square bringing the true festival atmosphere.

www.thehaguefestivals.com

Green and secret Utrecht
Behind the historic walls of the Utrecht city centre are beautiful gardens which normally remain hidden. The first Utrecht Open Garden Day ever is to take place on Saturday 2 July. During this brand-new event, approximately 35 private and municipal gardens will open their doors to the public, in addition to some gardens owned by other institutions. The Open garden Day provides a once-only opportunity to see special gardens which are closed for the rest of the year. Each garden that will open its doors on the first Utrecht Open Garden Day has its own very distinct character. With a wide variety in design, some gardens have special sculptures and most provide a wonderful view of the surrounding buildings. In addition to private gardens, the programme includes courtyards of medieval churches and museums, almshouses and many more locations of historic interest, such as the ancient botanical gardens, the tiered garden in the former Sterrenburg bastion and the formal garden with its long pond behind the house at Zuilenstraat 5.

www.holland.com

Fashionable Arnhem
Arnhem is highly regarded in the fashion world. Not only has its fashion academy produced some of the biggest names in fashion such as Viktor & Rolf, the city organises one of the world’s biggest bi-annual cultural fashion festivals. The fourth edition of the Arnhem Fashion Biennale will take place from Wednesday 1 June until Sunday 3 July. During the festival, visitors will have a chance to visit several fashion related exhibitions. The main exhibition will investigate what it is that makes fashion more than just pieces of clothing. Its venue will be the 10,000m2 former AkzoNobel factory. Other events and exhibitions will also be organised throughout the city.

www.arnhemmodebiennale.com

Distributor E1 Entertainment has received the rights to show the movie in Dutch cinemas the coming weeks. They will see if the sneak previews catches on in Europe like in America where Paranormal Activity is currently a huge hit.

Paranormal Activity, a haunted-house thriller was shot for $11,000 and has built a huge fan base after a handful of test screenings in America.

An Internet petition to bring the movie cinemas, delivered more than one million signatures in a short time. The movie trailer, which only shows how the audience reaction during a performance, has been downloaded millions of times.

Paranormal Activity tells the story about a young, middle class couple which moves into a typical suburban “starter” tract house, where they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night.

The couple decide to document the poltergeist-like disturbances in “Paranormal Activity.” They find that, as on reality TV shows, bad behavior tends to worsen when you train a camera on it. Orin Peli’s crew-less debut feature is one of the best genre spins on the pseudo-nonfiction 1st-person-cam since “The Blair Witch Project”.

Paramount Pictures Presents A Blumhouse Production A Film by Oren Peli “Paranormal Activity” starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer. The film was directed, written and edited by Oren Peli.

The first two Dutch sneaks previews past week took place in Amsterdam and The Hague. The next few weeks to follow other big cities.

Paranormal Activity broke box office records at American cinemas the last few weeks. In two weeks time Paranormal Activity made about 40 million U.S. dollars. The movie will be released on November 26 at the Dutch cinemas.

Angelina attended a war crimes trial in The Hague on Tuesday at the ICC, hailing the bravery of youngsters who testified against Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga.

Lubanga is the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Court. A former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lubanga is accused of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers.

“Children deserve special protection. The use of children in conflict is a terrible crime. Adults have a responsibility to care for children and protect them from harm, not to put them in harm’s way by using them to fight in a war. When commanders use children in conflict, they create a generation trained in violence that tears at the fabric of society.” said Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the UN’s refugee agency.

Angelina Jolie will help bring awareness about refugees as the U.N. refugee agency’s Goodwill Ambassador and give a voice to refugees, many of whom live in the shadows of forgotten tragedies.

This is the first international trial to focus solely on child soldiers. It started in January and is expected to continue throughout this year.

The United Nations estimates up to 250,000 child soldiers still fight in more than a dozen countries.