'A Universal Bird' is a documentary about the Dutch jazz musician and composer Theo Loevendie. A film by Oogland Film Productions, by Marieke Rodenburg and John Albert Jansen.

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look at: http://www.cinecrowd.nl/een-universele-vogel-theo-loevendie

In October 2014, a boyhood dream of Loevendie's came true. Commissioned by the NTR Zaterdag Matinee, he worked on an opera about the philosopher Spinoza, which premiered at the Concertgebouw in the autumn of 2014. To Loevendie, Spinoza is first and foremost an Amsterdammer, just like him. As a teenager, Loevendie read Spinoza's work; although he didn't understand everything, 'it aligned perfectly with his own ideas on, among other things, freedom of speech'.

We follow Loevendie during the creation process of the opera about Spinoza. There are scenes in his study, but we also accompany him on walks through Amsterdam, thus gaining a great deal of insight into his way of seeing and, above all, listening to the sounds of the city. Three times a day, he crosses Johannes Verhulststraat from his home to Café Welling, where he also performs regularly.
We are at chance encounters with musicians, writers, and artists, where we look back with them on his rich life, in which post-war Dutch musical life is reflected.
The process of writing the opera will run through it like a common thread.

Theo Loevendie is not only a versatile artist whose life indeed spans half a century of Dutch music history, but he is also a particularly engaging and infectious person. It is actually surprising that there is no film yet about his life and artistry.



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