Amsterdam has been harbouring outside influences for 750 years. The more diverse the mix, the stronger the city’s character. Amsterdam is a city of many voices, a polyphony that is echoed in its music. Bas Wiegers leads the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Choir and soloists in a unique programme of many voices. Tania Kross sings songs from several cultures, and evokes the rich culture of the Antilles in arias from Randal Corsen’s Katibu di shon, the first opera in Papiamentu. In addition, the orchestra performs a work by the Surinamese composer Eddy Vervuurt (1928-1988) and three Dutch composers.

In Theo Verbey’s Notturno, the whole world resonates in an Amsterdam appartment. In Louis Andriessen’s opera De stad van Dis (The City of Dis), we board the Ship of Fools and enter a hellish city, one of water and fire. Andriessen was an inspiring composition teacher, drawing young composers from all over the world to Keizersgracht in Amsterdam for lessons. Some stayed on to further enrich musical life here, such as the former Composer Laureate of the Netherlands Calliope Tsoupaki. The memory of her arrival in Amsterdam over 35 years ago inspired her newly commissioned work, Another Day, written in response to a poignant, image-rich poem by Anneke Brassinga.

This concert will be enriched by surtitles and images by Frouke ten Velden.

This programme was made possible thanks to the financial support of Ammodo.

Program:

Theo Verbey: Notturno

Eddy Vervuurt: Fantasie (orch. Th. Beijer)

Randal Corsen: Suite ‘Katibu di Shon’ (from the opera based on Carel de Haseth’s book)

– pause –

Anneke Brassinga: Elke dag nieuw begon (poem)

Calliope Tsoupaki: Another Day (commission, world premiere)

Louis Andriessen: The City of Dis, or The Ship of Fools