News

Monteverdi: Maria Vespers

The Nederlands Kamerkoor will once again (after a long time) perform Monteverdi’s Maria Vespers. The choir was the first to perform this magnificent work in the Netherlands, on July 4th, 1951, at a concert during the Holland Festival. A year earlier – exactly 60 years ago – they performed it for Dutch Radio. And now, 400 years after the initial premiere, the Nederlands Kamerkoor will sing it again, with early music ensemble La Sfera Armoniosa led by Mike Fentross.
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Film music of Werner Herzog with singers of the Nederlands Kamerkoor

Eight singers of the Nederlands Kamerkoor will mid-July record new film music with cellist Ernst Reijseger, for a documentary by Werner Herzog.
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General manager bids NKK farewell and receives royal honour

On Monday 7 June Leo Samama bade farewell as general manager of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. On this occasion Hans van der Sluijs, mayor of Leidschendam-Voorburg, presented Samama with a royal honour. He has been appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. 
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El sol del sur

What a treat it was to work with Peter Dijkstra again for a couple of weeks! And with such a fantastic programme: Poulenc, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Villa-Lobos, Pizzetti en Kleppe, with “Debussy forming a radiant arch over the concert as a whole,” as the Friesch Dagblad newspaper remarked. 
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Nederlands Kamerkoor on the smallest stage in Amsterdam: in the Bijenkorf's display window

During the Holland Festival you will be able to gain some brief glimpses of what this year’s festival is all about, in the Bijenkorf department store’s display window on the corner of the Dam and Damrak. On Tuesday June 8th from 14.00 till 14.20 the Nederlands Kamerkoor will be presenting a sample of their talent, as a foretaste of their Laborintus II concert, which is already sold out. The display window will of course be specially decorated in a manner befitting the festival. You are most welcome to attend.
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Prestigious Dutch prize for guitarist Izhar Elias

The Nederlandse Muziekprijs goes this year to saxophonist Ties Mellema, guitarist Izhar Elias and baritone Henk Neven. This was announced last week by the prize’s initiator, the Performing Arts Fund NL. Elias will receive the prize on 19 March next year, after his appearance in The Hague with the Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic.) The Music Prize is an award given to the best participants in an extensive study programme which is followed by talented musicians.
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Enchanting "NKK+"

What an exceptional week we’ve had! Involving four imposing instrumental soloists: Raphaela Danksagmüller, Noor Kamerbeek, André Heuvelman en Emile Cantor. And four composers and their outstanding scores:  Kalliope Tsoupaki, Aubert Lemeland, Philippe Gouttenoire and Patrick Burgan. 
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Irene Witmer new managing director Nederlands Kamerkoor

As of 1 August Irene Witmer will become the managing director of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. She will be ultimately responsible for both artistic and business policy. 
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'Gedenk in Stilte' and 'La mort d'un tyran'

Seldom has the audience’s level of concentration during a concert been so tangible, or so stimulating, as during the performance of The Seven Last Words from the Cross by James MacMillan in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on 27 January. The Nederlands Kamerkoor and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, conducted by Peter Dijkstra, demonstrated just what the top Dutch music ensembles are capable of. 
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Become a supporter!

Our subsidy situation led, behind the scenes, to a turbulent 2009. As we are approaching the end of the year, we can proudly say that despite the storms we stand upright, even though the subsidy reduction is still a harsh reality.
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Canon with XXst century choral music

Radio 4: The complete canon of 20th-century choral music can now be found on Radio 4’s website.
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Video registration "Zomerdroom"

On 28 August 2009, the Orchestra of the 18th Century and the Nederlands Kamerkoor played highlights from Mendelssohn’s Midsummernight’s Dream. Video artist Daniëlle Kwaaitaal developed video art, inspired by themes of Mendelssohn’s work.
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Lassus project with Paul Van Nevel

Now that Paul Van Nevel has headed home and the Nederlands Kamerkoor is already tackling the next project, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, it’s a good moment to take a backward glance. ‘Heavenly sounds from Lassus with Kamerkoor’ was the NRC Handelsblad’s headline, and the review in the Leeuwarder Courant was entitled: ‘Kamerkoor with Van Nevel unbeatable.’
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Commissioned work for NKK+ programme

Calliope Tsoupaki’s new composition is finished: LA NOCHE
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Succesful Tenso Days

Between 15 and 18 October the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ was the venue for a series of remarkable choral concerts and other activities which made up this year’s edition of the Tenso Days. The Nederlands Kamerkoor is proud to have been co-organiser and host of this successful festival, and we were inspired by the performances of our colleagues from Riga, Tallinn, Paris and Oslo. 
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“La voce femminile” great success

With standing ovations in Besançon, Morteau and Audincourt (during the Besançon International Music Festival) and again in Amsterdam, the audience demonstrated that the “La voce femminile” programme had been favourably received. Four recent works by leading female composers - Edith Canat de Chizy, HelenaTulve and Saskia Macris – were interspersed with hymns by Hildegard von Bingen. 
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Haydn in Rhoon

Having opened our season with Mendelssohn and Haydn, (both of whom have jubilees this year,) we turned our attention to yet another important work of Haydn’s - the Stabat Mater – which was performed last weekend during the annual Haydn – van Hoboken Festival in Rhoon.
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On tour with the Orchestra of the 18th Century

What better start to a new and exciting season than a tour and concerts with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Frans Brüggen? On this occasion taking place in Warsaw, during the Chopin Festival, and in Utrecht, as part of that city’s Early Music Festival, and with music by two of this year’s birthday boys: Haydn and Mendelssohn.
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Omar Khayyam inspires many

On July 5th the Nederlands Kamerkoor will present a programme of choral works based around the Persian poet and scientist Omar Khayyam. Throughout the ages Omar Khayyam has inspired many playwrights, film-makers and composers to create new works of art. To illustrate the diversity of these works, we have received permission to reproduce an article entitled “Master of the Show” by Jos Coumans (May 2001). 
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A foretaste of 'Aquarius'

Last week the Nederlands Kamerkoor gave six performances in Antwerp of Karel Goeyvaerts’ opera ‘Aquarius’. The last performance in the series will take place in Amsterdam on June 21st. As a foretaste you can now view two short videos of this production. 
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Theater in the Concertgebouw

What a treat it was! A whole week of Mendelssohn with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting. A delight from the very first day. Psalm 42 en de Sommernachtstraum. With soprano Julia Kleiter, mezzo Elisabeth von Magnus and actor Gerd Böckmann, ably assisted by Harnoncourt himself. It was the first time the RCO had performed the Psalm, and Julia Kleiter and the Nederlands Kamerkoor were its undisputed stars. Everyone still formal in tails and black dresses.
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Nederlands Kamerkoor in Vrije Geluiden

On the morning of Sunday May 3rd in the VPRO music programme Vrije Geluiden you were given a foretaste: during this episode music was sung which the composer Matthias Kadar wrote specially for the Nederlands Kamerkoor - Poèmes de Paul Celan (2007). 
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Drama and Romanticism with Kamerkoor

This headline from the Leeuwarder Courant captures the essence of the programme of works by Arvo Pärt and Franz Schubert. Together with the incomparable Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and conducted by German conductor Christoph Poppen, the Nederlands Kamerkoor brought together two works in which faith and passion are the key elements.
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Agreement with Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten+

Many of you have probably already gathered from the Dutch newspapers that the Nederlands Kamerkoor – following discussions and negotiations which have been going on since September 2008 – have been granted by the Netherlands Fund for Performing Arts+ a higher subsidy than that originally proposed by the Fund’s Committee for Music.
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Bach and Schönberg impressive

The Volkskrant rapidly reached the conclusion that Bach’s Motets had been given a glorious rendition by conductor Peter Dijkstra and the members of the Nederlands Kamerkoor. And that was indeed a hundred percent so. The CD recording of these motets had already received an exceptional number of commendations, including “probably the best performance there is.”
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Heavenly music around the turn of the year

The Nederlands Kamerkoor successfully rounded off 2008 with a double bill consisting of Haydn’s Nelson Mass in Rhoon, followed by a genuine Christmas concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. With no less success they opened 2009 with Mozart’s Requiem, again in Rotterdam, and then continued the festivities during the past week in Amsterdam with Haydn’s The Seasons.
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New Year Wishes

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"Dishes filled with pearls"

After nine successful concerts, which the choir gave throughout the country, the special project which conductor Paul Van Nevel based around music from the court of King Francis 1 has come to an end. François Premier (which surely sounds better than Francis the First) and his sister Marguerite de Navarre themselves wielded the pen with great ingenuity and delicate subtlety in their literary utterances. The composers whom they gathered around them at court were expected to be able to do the same with notes. 
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Uwe Gronostay 1939 - 2008

We are sad to announce the death on Saturday 29 November, in Berlin, his place of residence, of Uwe Gronostay, former chief conductor and artistic director of the Nederlands Kamerkoor, at the age of 69. 
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New subsidy policy Ministry of Education, Culture and Science deathblow for Nederlands Kamerkoor

The decision of the Nederlands Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten+ (NFPK+, Dutch Fund for the Performing Arts), which falls under the responsibility of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, provisionally to reduce the subsidy to the Nederlands Kamerkoor by 60% signals the demise of this internationally renowned body. The Nederlands Kamerkoor is in danger of being forced by this decision to sack its singers and to continue as a freelance organisation. This will have huge consequences for the preservation of choral music as one of the most valued sources of The Netherlands musical heritage. 
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Nederlands Kamerkoor "outstanding"

"The Nederlands Kamerkoor’s contribution was no less outstanding [...]”, was the conclusion of the NRC Handelsblad’s reviewer Jochem Valkenburg in reaction to the special Messiaen double concert given on 15 November in The Hague. The Residentie Orkest (The Hague Philharmonic) and pianist Ralph van Raat also took part, conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw.
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Account of the Nederlandse Muziekdagen 2008

The Nederlandse Muziekdagen 2008 are over. For more than twenty years now this festival dedicated to - and usually on behalf of - Dutch music, has been an occasion many musical colleagues, and far too few ordinary music-lovers, have looked forward to. And this year it took place for the first time in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the concert hall where such an event belongs, and should be able to become a genuine celebration. 
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Riga and Berlin

Following the successful Schütz & Distler project, it was again time for contemporary music and international relations. The Nederlands Kamerkoor set off to Riga and Berlin to give several joint concerts with their choral colleagues based in both cities. This all had to do with Tenso, the international association which annually organizes a festival in the home city of one of the founders of Tenso: the RIAS Kammerchor from Berlin, Accentus from Paris, the Latvian Radio Choir from Riga and the Nederlands Kamerkoor from Amsterdam.
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“Tasteful double portrait Schütz and Distler”

Under this headline De Telegraaf reviewed the programme of works by Schütz and Distler with which the Nederlands Kamerkoor is touring the country this week. The first concert, in the packed Lutherse Kerk in The Hague - the opening concert of the city’s Internationaal Schütz Festival - was an immediate success.
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In Memoriam Mauricio Kagel

The composer Mauricio Kagel died in his hometown of Cologne on 18 September 2008 at the age of 76. He had been ill for some time, but nevertheless continued composing and conducting until the end. In December 2007 he conducted the Nederlands Kamerkoor in a recording of part of his unique Chorbuch. This work, together with a work commissioned by the NKK and the Rascher Saxophone Quartet - Les inventions d’Adolphe Sax, conducted by Klaas Stok – is due to be released on CD shortly. 
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Uitmarkt debate in Paradiso

On Sunday, 30 August the sixth edition of the Paradiso Debate took place in Paradiso in Amsterdam, organised by Kunsten ‘92, Kunst van Vooruitzien and Paradiso. With the well-known TV presenter Clairy Polak as moderator, both national and regional politicians discussed current cultural policy. Minister Plasterk (Education, Culture and Science) was also interviewed.  Following the debate, the Nederlands Kamerkoor gave a performance of Messiaen’s beautiful motet “O sacrum convivium”. You have a second chance to watch and listen to the debate thanks to Fabchannel.com (see below).
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Nederlands Kamerkoor house style design wins prizes

Studio Dumbar has won two prizes for its design of the Nederlands Kamerkoor’s new house style. 
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The Rolls-Royce

"It was a rare moment. On Thursday evening the Collegiate Church of St. Michel in Fribourg was host to a vocal ensemble which sets an example for the performance of contemporary repertoire: the Nederlands Kamerkoor.” So began the review which La Liberté published on Saturday, 12 July 2008, which later referred to the NKK as an “ensemble vocal de référence”, or, as the chairman of the Festival International de Musiques Sacrées in Fribourg called it, the “Rolls-Royce” among chamber choirs. 
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“Timid mumbling and loud praying”

The month of May saw some considerable successes for the Nederlands Kamerkoor.  Firstly with Peter Dijkstra in two tremendous programmes and then in the ZaterdagMatinee, with conductor Otto Tausk. Peter Dijkstra had put together two fine programmes, one with works by Bach and Handel and in collaboration with the Holland Baroque Society, the other with the Residentie Orkest and music by Puccini, Pizzetti and Verdi.
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Monte-Carlo audience enthusiastic about Janacek and Nederlands Kamerkoor

In March the Nederlands Kamerkoor gave a concert in Monte-Carlo (Monaco), with music from Leos Janacek. Last week we received a review from a local newspaper we would like to share with you!
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The Great Service

“Hillier blends soberness with dulcet polyphony”, was the headline in Trouw newspaper last week following one of the successful concerts given by the Nederlands Kamerkoor under the renowned conductor Paul Hillier. The audiences in Leeuwarden, Amersfoort, Arnhem, The Hague, Amsterdam and Groningen all reacted with great enthusiasm to William Byrd’s The Great Service, which was interspersed with contemporary works by David Lang, Jack Body, Howard Skempton and Gavin Bryars. 
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Newsletter online

You can view our last email-newsletter here online.
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Passion season

For the Nederlands Kamerkoor the middle of March was entirely taken up by the figure of Johann Sebastian Bach. Not only with two fantastic productions of the St. Matthew Passion in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, but also with the huge amount of attention being attracted by our new CD of Bach’s six motets.
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New movie

Channel Classics, the record label that just released our new CD with the 6 motets from Bach, allowed us to publish this promotional movie on our website.
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“Stabat Mater” well-received

It may have taken about twenty years, but finally it has happened: the Nederlands Kamerkoor has presented the first concert in its own series in the Grote Zaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. With a nicely balanced programme for the Easter season: Stabat Mater. As the headline in the Gelderlander newspaper said about the earlier concert in Arnhem: “Stabat Mater programme makes good alternative”, referring to all the Bach passions being performed at this time of year.
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Vriendenhof

“The first bars of the work by Caplet (Inscriptions champêtres), sung by the ladies of the Nederlands Kamerkoor and conducted by Klaas Stok, immediately made the audience sit up straight. In this work a serenely impressionistic sound picture, wreathed in an acoustic mist, was painted of the four seasons. Only singers of Nederlands Kamerkoor quality can achieve that so thrillingly.”
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Grete Pedersen makes her debut with the Nederlands Kamerkoor

The day after one of the recent concerts with the Norwegian conductor Grete Pedersen, a member of the audience wrote us the following: ‘It was amazing, overwhelming and incredibly moving. The piece by Xenakis being followed immediately by the Messiaen was out of this world. Truly magnificent. Many thanks!!!!’
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Cd-recording of music by Kagel

During December 2007 the Nederlands Kamerkoor, conducted by Klaas Stok and Mauricio Kagel, made CD recordings of two important works by Kagel: Les inventions d’Adolphe Sax (commissioned by the NKK) and Chorbuch. 
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Dreaming of Flying Machines

Every now and then you get one of those productions which the press barely even notices, but which for those involved are important and also intrinsically successful. Dreaming of Flying Machines proved to be just such a project.
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New CD being produced

In the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam the Nederlands Kamerkoor is busy recording a new CD for Channel Classics. The repertoire includes works by Eric Whitacre, Gabriel Jackson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Anne Boyd and György Ligeti, brought together under the title Dreaming of Flying Machines.
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“Vocal acrobatics from the Nederlands Kamerkoor”

This was the headline in the Leeuwarder Courant the day after the special concert which the choir and the Nieuw Ensemble had given in Heerenveen. Conducted by Emilio Pomarico, this exciting Stravinsky/de Leeuw project opened the Northern Choral Festival’s Vocal Variety.
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Vote for the Nederlands Kamerkoor!

this article will be translated soon!
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Messiaen by Nederlands Kamerkoor

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"Le Nederlands" and Musicatreize

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Warm and sunny Marseille

Whilst the Dutch parliament has briefly been considering the problem of the country’s music ensembles, the Nederlands Kamerkoor, like a true ambassador of Dutch culture, has been in warm and sunny Marseille to join its colleagues in Musicatreize in preparing and giving a number of concerts in six historical locations spread around the city.
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An uncertain future in a fantastic present...

Uncertainty in the sphere of cultural politics has, of course, not prevented us from starting off our new season with some very special concerts.
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Bravos for the Nederlands Kamerkoor conducted by Roland Hayrabedian

The French call it a ‘succès fou’, and indeed it could be said there was an element of madness about it! To perform, in the Cité de la Musique in Paris, a programme containing three fiendishly difficult modern masterpieces, and to do so in the presence of representatives of the entire international choral world. Several professional colleagues in the audience even spoke of a ‘niveau de référence’, and that it most certainly was. 
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"Timeless top-class music"

Towards the end of May the Nederlands Kamerkoor and the Nieuw Ensemble, conducted by Ed Spanjaard, performed together in a very special project: The Voynich Cypher Manuscript by Hanspeter Kyburz.
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Purcell and Gibbons impress the audience

“No better Dutch choir than this chamber choir, no finer choral music than that of the British Baroque period, and no more enthusiastic specialist than this guest conductor” is how the Stentor newspaper summarised the recent concert in Zwolle, in which works by Gibbons and Purcell were sung by the Nederlands Kamerkoor conducted by Robert Hollingworth.
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Ton Koopman

After an absence of many years, Ton Koopman has stood before the Nederlands Kamerkoor again. And what a festive occasion it was!
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A diverse month of March

The Nederlands Kamerkoor had a particularly busy month of March, in which, naturally, much attention was paid to the Passion season. No less special, though, was the ‘Inventing Jazz’ project, in which jazz musicians Ineke van Doorn and Marc van Vugt joined forces with the singers of the Nederlands Kamerkoor to explore the frontier between jazz and classical music, taking as their basis new arrangements by Marc van Vugt. “A brave and exciting attempt”, as Trouw newspaper said. And definitely an attempt worth repeating.
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Nederlands Kamerkoor granted its own concert series in the Concertgebouw

Wednesday February 28th 2007 was an historic day for the Nederlands Kamerkoor. Not only was the new house style presented – of which this brand new website is one element – but it was also announced that the Nederlands Kamerkoor has been given its own concert series in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during the 2007-2008 season. The series is made possible by the support of the Choir’s new sponsor, F&C Netherlands bv.
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Springtime in Renaissance Prague

A production with Paul Van Nevel is always a thrilling experience. Because of the wonderful music with which he sends his audience into raptures. Because of the nuances he applies to choral singing, experienced as he is in the art of retouching. Because of the almost suffocating silence he manages to create in the churches and concert halls where he appears with the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
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Orpheus Behind the Wire

“Excitement and lyricism with the Nederlands Kamerkoor” and “Ethereal sounds from the Nederlands Kamerkoor”: these are just two of the headlines regarding the ‘Orpheus behind the wire’ project which the Nederlands Kamerkoor performed during recent weeks in Leeuwarden, Amersfoort, Kampen, Gouda, Breda and in the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.
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On the wings of angels

The New Year began “on the wings of angels” for the Nederlands Kamerkoor, according to the Volkskrant newspaper. They took part in a particularly serene performance of the Fauré Requiem, the most modest and gentle Requiem of all time, with the always excellent Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the inspiring Philippe Herreweghe.
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...inseln, randlos...

On September 15 and 16, 2005 the Nederlands Kamerkoor was the guest of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for a performance of ...inseln, randlos... by the German conductor and composer Peter Ruzicka. 
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