For decades, the Gashouder has stood as an industrial structure on the edge of the Westergasfabriek grounds in the Westerpark neighborhood. The round dome, the iron ribs, the volume of the space: everything is big. But in November 2026, that space will not be filled with dance music or partygoers. Something very different will be heard then. Harmony will present 10 music ceremonies over six days, bringing together contemporary classical music, ambient and electronica in an environment designed entirely for listening. No stage with artist and audience watching, but a 360-degree visual experience that supports the sound and deepens the listening.
Behind Harmony are two people who know the festival world up close: Duncan Stutterheim and Carina Kornfeind. Stutterheim founded ID&T, the company behind Sensation and Mysteryland, and owns the Westergasterrein and the Gashouder itself. Kornfeind worked for years as festival director at the same ID&T. Together, they are now bringing something to fruition that is diametrically opposed to anything they made before. In Stutterheim's own words, “Since my departure from nightlife, this music has taken on a new, deeper meaning for me. It brings me inward, to peace, reflection and a more intense way of listening.” That's not a marketing pitch. Harmony is his answer to the question of what remains when the dance floor disappears.
The format deliberately deviates from everything you know. No concerts, no shows, no artist playing the room with jokes and stories. The ten music ceremonies are designed to draw the listener in, with artists working subtly and precisely with sound and space. The Gashouder is an almost perfect space for this: the dome shape creates acoustics you won't find in an ordinary concert hall, the sound moves differently, it hangs longer. Above, around and below you work a 360-degree visual layer that envelops the whole thing.
Program
To the first edition of Harmony ten musicians are collaborating: Ben Lukas Boysen, Simeon ten Holt - Canto Ostinato with Jeroen van Veen & Friends (6 grand pianos), Jeroen van Veen, Jon Hopkins, Lisa Morgenstern, Niklas Paschburg, Robin Scherpen, Shida Shahabi, Sven Väth with an ambient set and Yehezkel Raz.
With Harmony, the Gashouder takes on a new charge. No mass, no decibels to stun, but silence as a starting point and sound that does something to you afterwards. For those who want to know what a place like the Gashouder sounds like when you really listen to it, this is the opportunity.