This post is about three things. Today is "Koninginnedag" or Queen's Day it is a national holiday in the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba on 30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday. Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity and "togetherness" (Dutch: saamhorigheid). The tradition started on 31 August 1885, on the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen Wilhelmina. Since 1949, after the ascension of Queen Juliana, Queen's Day is Queen Juliana's birthday on 30 April. Although Queen Beatrix's birthday is on 31 January, she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.
And saying Queen I also think about the British rock band Queen. At there song, "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is in the style of a stream-of-consciousness nightmare that has unusual song structure, more akin to a classical rhapsody than popular music. The song has no chorus, instead consisting of three main parts including an operatic segment, an a cappella passage, and a heavy rock solo. Because of its ambiguous style and arrangement, the song has rarely been classified by the band or critics under a specific genre of music, however when done so it is usually described as a "rock opera" piece.The single was accompanied by a promotional video; considered ground-breaking. Music scholar Peter Buckley wrote, "it is widely recognized as being the first promotional video." This piece helped establish the visual language of the modern music video. Although critical reaction was initially mixed, particularly in the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is often considered to be Queen's magnum opus and is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time.
Maksim Mrvica ends the third part of this post because he made a great performance of the song. That I like how pop songs been performed in a classic way you already know from the older post about David Garrett. David moves his fingers fast on his violin and Maksim is just as fast on the piano.
Mrvica took up piano lessons from the age of nine from Marija Sekso and gave his first public performance in the same year. Just three years later he gave his first concert performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in C major. When war broke out in 1991, both Mrvica and his professor were determined that this would not disrupt his music studies. In spite of the war and surrounding turbulence, Mrvica entered in, and won, his first major competition in Zagreb in 1993.
Mrvica went on to study at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he spent five years under Professor Vladimir Krpan, who himself was a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He then spent a year at the Franz Liszt Conservatoire in Budapest and during this year he won first prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition. In 2000, he moved to Paris to study with Igor Lazko and gained first prize in the Pontoise Piano Competition in 2001.
When he returned to Croatia he found himself to be the focus of intense media interest and he made frequent television appearances as well as giving a great number of interviews. He soon found himself recording his first CD, Gestures, an album of contemporary Croatian piano pieces. Gestures became one of the fastest-selling classical recordings to be released in Croatia, and Mrvica was even invited to officiate the Porin award ceremony, an honour not usually granted to a classical artist.
It been a rainy koninginnedag this year but princess Máxima seems to had fun.
For the non Dutch: Princess Máxima is the wife of prince Willem-Alexander, son of queen Beatrix and our future King
