The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the
conductor,
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...
and
harpsichordist
A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...
Ton Koopman
Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orches ...
. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992.
[Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir](_blank)
on Bach Cantatas, 2001 They have performed in concert halls such as the
Concertgebouw
The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...
Amsterdam,
Barbican Centre London,
Konzerthaus, Vienna
The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...
,
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
New York and
Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
is a centre for the performing arts located in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1990 and is operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. There is a concert hall with 1999 seats and a playhouse with 834 seats a ...
.
The first concert of the choir and orchestra premiered two works of
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber ( bapt. 12 August 1644, Stráž pod Ralskem – 3 May 1704, Salzburg) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl ...
, ''Requiem'' (for 15 voices) and ''Vespers'' (for 32 voices), at the 1992 Festival of Early Music in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
.
In 1994, Koopman embarked on a ten-year project to conduct the group in recordings and performances of the complete vocal works of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
. His more than 200
cantatas were recorded in 22 volumes, first under the label Erato, since 2003 Challenge/Antoine Marchand Records, reissuing also the former volumes. Soloists for this project included sopranos
Els Bongers
Els Bongers is a Dutch soprano singer active in concert, opera and musical theatre.
Career
Els Bongers studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam with Margreet Honig and Jan-Hendrik Rootering, where she received her diploma in 1993 ...
,
Ruth Holton
Ruth Holton (born 1961)"Holton, Ruth" in David M. Cummings (ed.) ''International Who's Who in Classical Music, 2003", London, Europa Publications p.353. is an English soprano singer.
Training
Holton won a choral exhibition at Clare College, Cam ...
,
Lisa Larsson,
Marlis Petersen
Marlis Petersen (born 3 February 1968)Heinrich (2018) is a German operatic coloratura soprano.
Career
Born in Sindelfingen, Baden-Württemberg, Marlis Petersen won six important piano competitions before eventually going to the Stuttgart Conserv ...
,
Sandrine Piau,
Dorothea Röschmann
Dorothea Röschmann (born 17 June 1967) is a German soprano. She is famous for her performances in operas by Mozart as well as Lieder.
Early life
Röschmann was born in Flensburg, and sang with the Flensburg Bach Choir by the age of seven. She ...
,
Sibylla Rubens
Sibylla Rubens is a German classical concert soprano.
Career
Sibylla Rubens studied voice (concert and opera) at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt and in master classes with Edith Mathi ...
,
Barbara Schlick,
Caroline Stam
Caroline Stam is a Dutch classical soprano who has an international (European) performing career specializing in baroque repertoire, reinforced by a distinguished presence in modern recordings (see below).
Education
Stam studied voice at the ...
(a member of the choir from the beginning),
Deborah York
Deborah York, born 1964 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, is a classical soprano in concert and opera, and a teacher and conductor. She has British and German nationalities and has been living in Berlin since 1996. Biography
York studied piano ...
,
Ruth Ziesak
Ruth Ziesak (born 9 February 1963) is a German soprano in opera and concert.
Career
Ruth Ziesak studied voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Elsa Cavelti and Christoph Prégardien. She has been a member of the M ...
and
Johannette Zomer
Johannette Zomer is a Dutch classical concert and opera soprano.
Career
After having worked as a microbiology technician, Johannette Zomer shifted gears in 1990 and studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam in Amsterdam with Charle ...
, altos
Bogna Bartosz
Bogna Bartosz (born in Gdańsk) is a Polish classical mezzo-soprano and alto.
Career
Bogna Bartosz studied voice at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and graduated with distinction. She then studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Ingr ...
,
Michael Chance
Michael Chance CBE (born in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom 7 March 1955) is an English countertenor and the founder and Artistic Director of The Grange Festival.
Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing ...
,
Franziska Gottwald
Franziska Gottwald (born in Marburg) is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert.
Career
Franziska Gottwald received her first voice training at the age of 16 with Eugen Rabine and studied voice at the Academies of Music in Saarbr ...
, Bernhard Landauer,
Elisabeth von Magnus
Elisabeth von Magnus (born Countess Elisabeth Juliana de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt on 29 May 1954) is an Austrian classical mezzo-soprano. The daughter of conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and violinist Alice Harnoncourt, her pro ...
,
Annette Markert
Annette Markert (born in Kaltensundheim, Thuringia) is a German classical mezzo-soprano and alto.
Career
Annette Markert studied voice at the Leipzig School of Music and was engaged at the Halle Opera House in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt from 1983 to ...
,
Andreas Scholl,
Nathalie Stutzmann
Nathalie Stutzmann (née Dupuy; born 6 May 1965) is a French contralto and conductor.
Biography
Born in Suresnes in France, Stutzmann first studied with her mother, soprano Christiane Stutzmann, then at Nancy Conservatoire and later at the ''Éc ...
and
Kai Wessel, tenors
Paul Agnew
Paul Agnew (born 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor.
Biography
Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathedra, the ...
,
Jörg Dürmüller
Jörg Dürmüller (born 28 August 1959 in Bern) is a Swiss classical tenor in concert and opera.
Biography
Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the conservatory of Winterthur and took voice master classes with Edith Mathis, Christa Ludwig ...
,
James Gilchrist,
Guy de Mey
Guy de Mey (born 4 August 1955) is a Belgian tenor from Sint-Niklaas. He studied with Stella Dalberg, Erna Spoorenberg, Peter Pears and Éric Tappy.
It all began in 1975 when he won the first prize at the Belgian National Pro Civitate competiti ...
,
Christoph Prégardien and
Gerd Türk
Gerd Türk is a German classical tenor.
Biography
Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jaco ...
, and bass
Klaus Mertens
Klaus Mertens (born 25 March 1949, in Kleve) is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice.
Career
Klaus Mertens took singing lessons ...
.
In 2005 they commenced a project
Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia is a project to record the complete works (in Latin: opera omnia) of the Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude, to record the complete works of
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
(completed in 2014). Singers for this project have additionally included sopranos
Bettina Pahn
Bettina is a female name predominantly found in the Italian language, Italian and German language, German languages. This name has various interpreted meanings and origins.
In Italian, Bettina originated as a diminutive of the names Elisabetta a ...
,
Miriam Meyer
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The T ...
,
Siri Thornhill
Siri Karoline Thornhill is a Norwegian classical soprano for concert and opera, known for singing music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Career
Thornhill studied singing first in her hometown Stavanger with Marit Storækre and continued with a scholar ...
,
Orlanda Velez Isidro
Orlanda Velez Isidro (born 6 March 1972) is a Portuguese classically trained coloratura soprano. Her preferred genre of music is Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Since completing her education in Portugal and the Netherlands, she has lived and ...
, altos
Robin Blaze
Robin Blaze (born 1971 in Manchester) is an English countertenor.
Early life
The son of Peter Blaze, a professional golfer, and Christine, Blaze and his brother Mark grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, ...
,
Patrick Van Goethem,
Hugo Naessens
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Hugo (film), ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise ...
,
Daniel Taylor Daniel, Dan, or Danny Taylor may refer to:
Sportspeople
* Dan Taylor (shot putter) (born 1982), American shot putter
* Dan Taylor (cricketer) (1887–1957), South African cricketer
* Dan Taylor (footballer, born 1993), English footballer
* Dan Tayl ...
, tenor
Andreas Karasiak and bass
Donald Bentvelsen.
Dieterich Buxtehude - Opera Omnia
References
External links
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Entries to Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
in WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir
Early music choirs
Early music orchestras
Musical groups established in 1979
Musical groups established in 1992
1979 establishments in the Netherlands
Music in Amsterdam
Dutch choirs
Dutch orchestras