News
New subsidy policy Ministry of Education, Culture and Science deathblow for Nederlands Kamerkoor
02.12.2008The 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.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor was founded in 1937 by Felix de Nobel, and rapidly grew to become one of the finest chamber choirs in the world. The important role played by the Nederlands Kamerkoor in preserving the musical heritage of The Netherlands was recognised by the Dutch government in the form of a maintenance subsidy, which has been awarded every year since 1965, on the basis of the stated artistic terms of reference of the choir, which are: the performance of choral music in general and of a cappella music in particular. The choir performs a unique repertoire of almost 900 years of music.
A crucial and distinctive factor in the maintenance of the exceptionally high quality of the Nederlands Kamerkoor is the fact that its singers are employed on the basis of a permanent contract. Many of them have now been singing for the choir for a considerable number of years. The somewhat contemptuous advice of the NFPK+ reveals that it is of the opinion that this high quality can still be guaranteed even with 40% of the choir’s budget.
Valuable collaborations with top orchestras and renowned ensembles will belong to the past. The damage caused by this proposal will be irreparable. It means for The Netherlands the end of professional chamber choir singing at the international level and damage to the country’s musical heritage.
Leo Samama, general manager of the Nederlands Kamerkoor, finds the NFPK+’s reasoning incomprehensible. “It’s like asking Ajax football club to surrender more than half its budget and thereafter to play with semi-professionals, while demanding that they still win the Champions League,” says Samama. “Just as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra could not maintain its extraordinary standards solely with freelance musicians, or the National Ballet with freelance dancers, so is it impossible for the Nederlands Kamerkoor to sustain its particularly high standards with freelance singers alone,” he concludes.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor does not accept the decision of the NFPK+. The choir is making an urgent appeal to Minister Plasterk (Education, Culture and Science) to reverse this decision, or to include the Nederlands Kamerkoor in the basic infrastructure supervised by his ministry. The Nederlands Kamerkoor does not rule out the possibility of legal proceedings.
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