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Last January the Dutch music television programme “Vrije Geluiden” broadcast an interview with Marcel Beekman, on the subject of his “Zomerreis”CD [“Summer journey”, a Dutch translation of Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin”]. As well as two songs from this CD, he sang the famous Portuguese fado “Estranha forma de vida”. A podcast-version of this broadcast can be found at RECORDINGS.



Marcel Beekman and Ernst Munneke in front of the television cameras
photo: Hans Speekenbrink

Thanks to its success, “Zomerreis” has been programmed for live performance again, such as at the new Festival Classique in The Hague, next June, and – later this year – in the Amsterdam Carré Theatre where Marcel Beekman will appear as guest performer during a special concert devoted to the [re]translated works of Jan Rot. Negotiations with other festivals are ongoing.

The première of “Arminio” – the only surviving opera by the Bohemian baroque composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber – will take place on March 4th in the Zoetermeer City Theatre. This is a production of the Amsterdam Combattimento Consort, conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend and directed by Eva Buchmann. The opera is set in ancient Rome at the time of Emperor Tiberius, and tells the story of Arminio who seeks to free his wife Segesta from prison. Several intrigues and love stories are intertwined. Marcel Beekman sings the role of the megalomaniac Germanicus, stepson of Tiberius, commander-in-chief of the army and father of Nerone and Caligula. After its première, “Arminio” will also be performed in Amsterdam, Leiden, Zwolle, Gouda, Den Haag, Rotterdam and Enschede.

In the course of the next few months, concerts will take place in e.g. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome and Stockholm, with various programmes and orchestras such as the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Netherlands Bach Society, the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and the Brabant Orchestra. At the end of April “Voices” will be premièred, a modern oratorio for soprano, tenor, piano, saxophone quartet and live sampling, written by composer André Arends [a pupil of Otto Ketting and Jurre Haanstra] based on a libretto by Hélène Gelèns, about the last conversation of a dying woman with her best friend.

Early in May a CD of the New Trombone Collective will be released, which will contain Martijn Padding’s composition “And trees would sing” for tenor and trombone quartet. This will be followed in July by the CD “Rimes Italiennes & Madrigali” with secular pieces by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, recorded with Harry van der Kamp’s Gesualdo Consort. Finally, there are plans for two new recordings: one of a song cycle for tenor, flute and guitar by composer Kees Arntzen on poems by Brazilian Thiago de Mello and one containing works by Bach, Buxtehude and Schütz with the Netherlands Bach Society conducted by Jos van Veldhoven.

Please consult the AGENDA for all further information. Reactions can be sent to Sorek Artists Management [see CONTACT] or directly to marcelbeekman@orange.nl

Marcel Beekman [february 2007]
 

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