Concert with chamber choir Con Passione – Voorburg

Marijke van Klaveren, conductor of the Voorburgs Vocal Ensemble, and Gilles Michels, conductor of Con Passione, studied together in Rotterdam under Barend Schuurman. Like Marijke, Gilles has extensive experience of working with children and young people. The two conductors occasionally meet as colleagues and are looking forward to working together. A collaboration between two chamber choirs offers the chance to perform works that require larger-scale steeing.

Rachmaninoff‘s Liturgy of St. Chrysostom works best with a full, warm choral sound, evoking associations with vast northern vistas, overwhelming nature, stillness, and contemplation. Building on these impressions, the programme continues with two recent eight-part works: ‘And the swallow‘ by Caroline Shaw, set to the text of Psalm 84, in which birds and autumn rain are sung about; and ‘Northern Lights‘ by Ēriks Ešenvalds, in which bubbles and water-tuned glasses illustrate the northern lights. The final piece of the concert will be Vivaldi/Krawczyk‘s Requiem, an arrangement of ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ for double choir. It is a very surprising and impressive piece.

Contributing to this concert will be tenor Jasper Dijkstra, organist Renske Ligtmans and cellist Petra de Man. Marijke and Gilles will both be conducting.