Herman van Veen

After his unforgettable, packed-to-the-rafters performances on the occasion of '60 years on the stage' and his 80th birthday year, Herman van Veen is coming to Oostende in 2027 with his new performance Today. A personal, moving, and musical journey full of stories, songs, and reflections – with the unpredictable humor and sharp lightheartedness that have characterized him for decades. And how! Thanks to what he calls 'genetic luck' and especially 'the singing', because that is exactly what keeps him moving, with heart and soul, and that for 140 performances per year. Once in the 60s of the last century, Herman began his career in Belgium. Since then, he has called it his motherland. Herman van Veen (1945) is a singer, writer, composer, painter, and theater maker. He grew up in Utrecht where he also attended the Conservatory. Since his debut in 1965, he has traveled the world with his performances. He is a regular guest at, among others, the Koninklijk Theater Carré Amsterdam (by now 620 times), the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Koningin Elisabethzaal Antwerpen. He played series on Broadway, in Carnegie Hall New York, concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Londen and is a frequent guest in Paris at l’Olympia, La Salle Gaveau, Théâtre de la Ville and Théâtre de la Comédie des Champs-Elysées. From his hand have appeared some one hundred and eighty CDs, about eighty books, two dozen plays, and a bunch of paintings. For both his artistic and humanitarian work, he has often received flowers. For instance, he is, among other things, a bearer of the Verdienstkreuz am Band des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Knight in the Orde van Oranje-Nassau and in that of the Nederlandse Leeuw. Herman has an Honorary Doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit van Brussel. Van de Club van Budapest he received the Planetary Consciousness Award. In Frankrijk Le Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros de Littérature Musicale. In 2021 he received in Duitsland de Joachim Ringelnatz Literatur Preis and in 2023 a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dutch copyright organizations. Herman is the father of four children, grandfather of three grandchildren, and stepfather of the animated orphan duck Alfred Jodocus Kwak and of the just-born fairy-tale character Anne de Poes.