More Visitors Canals Festival Amsterdam

The Canals Festival in Amsterdam has drawn a record number of 63,000 visitors this year. The Prinsengracht concert, that was held on the last day of the Canal Festival, had the highest ratings ever during the broadcast of the concert on Saturday evening. 919.000 Viewers saw the concert on TV. Canals Festival During the 16th edition of the Canals Festival, visitors could listen for 10 days at 96 different locations in Amsterdam to classical music. In total there were 228 concerts, more than ever. Last year 53,000 people visited the festival. This year the festival had 10,000 more visitors, announced the organization on Sunday. Princess Beatrix visited with Princess Laurentien and Prince Constantijn Sunday afternoon one of the last concerts of the festival. They were at Yoel Gamzou with its International Mahler Orchestra in the Portuguese Synagogue. Prinsengracht concert The Prinsengracht concert, which is traditionally held during the Canals Festival, was this year a concert of the Royal Concert Building Orchestra. According to figures from the Audience Research Foundation the concert which was broadcasted on Saturday evening, drew 919,000 viewers. The Avro calls the audience "historic" for a program with only classical music. The Prinsengracht was Saturday night in fourth place of most watched programs, after the news of 6.00 and 8.00 pm and the sports program, Studio Sport. Despite the bad weather the program continued. The 90 musicians strong Royal Concert Building Orchestra, performed, among others, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and the overture La Forza del Destino by Verdi. It was the first time that a full orchestra played on the Prinsengracht. The Concert Building Orchestra was invited because of its 125th anniversary. The Canal Festival will be held in 2014 from 15 to 24 August.