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The Nederlands Kamerkoor is a unique ensemble, founded in 1937 by Felix de Nobel and today one of Europe’s few autonomous full-time chamber choirs. Financial support from the Dutch government enables the 24 vocal soloists to devote the majority of their time to the performance of a cappella repertoire. Additionally the Nederlands Kamerkoor also regularly joins forces with renowned instrumental ensembles, such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Schönberg Ensemble, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Combattimento Consort.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor’s appearances in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw during the 2003-2004 season included performances of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (with the Radio Chamber Orchestra conducted by Philippe Herreweghe), the Serenade to Music by Vaughan Williams (with conductor Peter Oundjian and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta), Memories of Taiping Lake by Xu Shuya (with the Nieuw Ensemble conducted by Lucas Vis), Bach’s B Minor Mass (with Jan Willem de Vriend leading the Combattimento Consort) and Jetzt immer Schnee by Sofia Gubaidulina (with the Schönberg Ensemble led by Reinbert de Leeuw).
The Nederlands Kamerkoor also travelled abroad in the past season for an a cappella concert in Vezelay (France) under chief conductor Stephen Layton; in Bruges (Belgium) for Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II, with the Ictus Ensemble led by Georges-Elie Octors; and in Vienna, where Reinbert de Leeuw conducted a unique Ligeti programme. The season’s remaining a cappella concerts included works ranging from Lassus and Palestrina to Aaron Jay Kernis, John Tavener, Gerard Beljon and Edith Canat de Chizy.
In the 2004-2005 season the Nederlands Kamerkoor will maintain this artistic line with performances of Le temps restitué by Barraqué in Freiburg, Heidelberg and Paris under Sylvain Cambreling with the orchestra of the SWR; Schubert’s magnificent Mass in E-flat in Amsterdam and Brussels with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Nikolaus Harnoncourt; Maurico Kagel’s Quirinus’ Liebeskuss with Reinbert de Leeuw and the Schönberg Ensemble; Kurt Weill’s Das Berliner Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra led by Ingo Metzmacher; and a concert of Stravinsky’s Mass and Mozart’s Requiem, with Kenneth Montgomery conducting the Radio Chamber Orchestra.
The 2004-2005 season will also see the world premiere of new works by John Tavener, James MacMillan and Jan Vriend, composed especially for the Nederlands Kamerkoor. Composer/arranger Bob Zimmerman will join stage director Ruut Weissman to present an exciting production of music by Burt Bacharach, and the remainder of the season will offer a vast diversity of repertoire conducted by Paul Van Nevel, Stephen Layton, Peter Dijkstra and Marcus Creed.
In the past ten years the Nederlands Kamerkoor has built a considerable reputation at home as well as abroad. In 2000 the choir performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Vienna’ Musikverein with Reinbert de Leeuw and the Schönberg Ensemble, and the ensemble traveled to Japan (1998) and to Spain (2000) with the Orchestra of the 18th Century and its conductor Frans Brüggen. In the summer of 1998 the Nederlands Kamerkoor and the Budapest Festival Orchestra made their debut performance at the Salzburger Festspiele under conductor Iván Fischer.
On 2 February 2002 the Nederlands Kamerkoor participated in the musical portion of the wedding ceremony of Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima, in co-operation with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra and bandoneon player Carel Kraayenhof, under the leadership of Ed Spanjaard. This collaboration resulted in two compact disc recordings issued by the label Pentatone Classics: the official music performed at the royal wedding (including the tango Adiós Nonino by Astor Piazzolla, arranged by Bob Zimmerman), and a second CD consisting of additional tango arrangements by Zimmerman, including Adiós Nonino.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor’s Compact Disc Catalogue includes some 60 titles. The CD with a cappella works by Robert Heppener, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste and Daniël Reuss, was awarded an Edison in 2000 in the choral music category. The Nederlands Kamerkoor also received Edisons for compact discs with works by Rudof Escher (1998) and Ton de Leeuw (2001) conducted by Ed Spanjaard, for the recording of Daniël de Lange’s Requiem under Uwe Gronostay (that also received the Diapason d’Or), and for a CD of works by Sofia Gubaidulina, including Jetzt immer Schnee, recorded with conductor Reinbert de Leeuw. Recordings of works by Hindemith (under Uwe Gronostay) and Janácek (under Reinbert de Leeuw) were awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis.