NEWS
First of all I would like to commemorate my inspiring friend Jan van der Wal, who passed away at the end of November 2007 in Amsterdam, at the age of 76. In my opinion, what a musician needs to learn his trade – apart from a good education and stage experience – is to absorb impressions from his personal environment in such a way that creates an artistic identity of his own, which in turn gives rise to interpretative skills.
Jan van der Wal, in his day a taboo-breaking set and costume designer on the Amsterdam theatre and ballet scene, was a walking encyclopedia on the subject of the rebuilding of artistic and liberal morale after the Second World War; a process in which he took an active part. His stories about the necessity for free-thinking, uncompromising and individual creation will remain in my memory for ever.
Jan van der Wal [1931-2007]
The 2007/08 concert season kicked off amorously with “Meine Freundin, du bist schön” – a production performed in the Utrecht Early Music Festival by the Netherlands Bach Society and their conductor Jos van Veldhoven. The programme was based on the biblical “Song of Songs”, with works by Bach, Schütz and their contemporaries, and a CD of it will be released on the Channel Classics label during 2008. Information on all recent CD’s, and on those still to be released, can be found under the heading RECORDINGS. A link has recently been created for visitors to view two excerpts from Willem Breuker’s opera “Jonah, the Naysayer” by clicking the VIDEO-option. Should you wish to buy the DVD, please apply to www.swaanprodukties.com or to www.bvhaast.nl
[with special thanks to film director Carrie de Swaan for her technical support]
That the collaboration with the Netherlands Bach Society is a productive one is shown by recent concert tours such as “The Empress sings!”, the rediscovered St. John Passion by Georg Gebel, performed in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in November 2007 and due to be broadcast by Dutch NPS Television on March 30 and 31, and finally Monteverdi’s “Christmas Vespers” conducted by Italian early music specialist Rinaldo Alessandrini.
December 2007 also saw a tour of the Netherlands and Belgium with Ensemble Pierre Robert, singing a concert programme featuring works by Couperin, Clérambault and Danielis. An interview which was published on the occasion of these concerts by the Utrecht Early Music Magazine can be read when clicking on PRESS CUTTINGS [in Dutch only].
Ensemble Pierre Robert – from left to right: Robbert Muuse, Frédéric Desenclos, Robert Getchell and Marcel Beekman
After a first appearance at the Iranian Fadjr Music Festival in January 2006, lutenist David van Ooijen and tenor Marcel Beekman were invited back by the festival’s artistic director Kambiz Roshanravan, this time to give a masterclass on the interpretation of European Baroque music, culminating in a concert performance by both teachers and pupils in the Tehran Vahdat Hall on December 26.
Marcel Beekman and David van Ooijen in Tehran – Fadjr Music Festival, January 2006
For the first half of 2008 concert performances are scheduled with orchestras such as the Brabant Orchestra [Mozart], Sinfonietta Amsterdam [Haydn] and the Flemish “Il Fondamento” [Zelenka], plus a debut with the Royal Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion conducted by Iván Fischer. In addition, there are a large number of performances of Bach in Antwerp, Dortmund, The Hague and Nijmegen, and French baroque programmes in Brussels and Lisbon.
Future engagements include the world première of Greek composer Calliope Tsoupaki’s “St. Luke Passion” in the 2008 Holland Festival with the Nieuw Ensemble and conductor Ed Spanjaard; a role in Louis Andriessen’s new opera “La Commedia” in a production by the Netherlands Opera with the ASKO/Schönberg Ensemble and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw; a role in Serbian composer Isidora Žebeljan’s new opera “The Marathon” on the occasion of the 2008 Bregenzer Festspiele [Austria] and the Belgrade Music Festival [Serbia]; concert tours with Frans Brüggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century [Rameau and Beethoven] and finally “Granida” – a reconstruction of Dutch poet P.C. Hooft’s only attempt at opera in a production by Dani Cuypers and director Wim Trompert.
subject to changes
Marcel Beekman [December 2007]