Stabat Mater.
Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands
The mother's grief inspired the Italian masters Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Boccherini to compose a Stabat Mater. It is a cycle of songs about Mary, weeping under the cross of her dying son. The Latin text is by the monk Jacopone da Todi and is named after the opening words Stabat Mater Dolorosa (The Mother was Sad).
The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands will kick off the 2022 concert season with Italian Baroque Concerts. Including compositions by Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Scarlatti.
Conducted by Baroque specialist Pieter Jan Leusink, The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands shines in Vivaldi's Gloria. Fast, cheerful sections with a compelling character alternate with slow, devout passages. The strings, oboe and trumpet give Vivaldi's masterpiece a festive character.
Experience Pergolesi's moving Stabat Mater. This story of Mary's grief is performed by two internationally renowned soloists: soprano Olga Zinovieva and mezzo-soprano Melina Meschkat. Their voices offer a broad spectrum of human emotions and guarantee a refined performance of this intimate composition.
Allegri's masterpiece Miserere mei means high-quality a cappella singing by the rarefied baroque voices of The Bach Choir of the Netherlands. The Vatican did not allow others to sing the composition. After the 12-year-old Mozart heard it in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, he wrote the work down by heart. Thanks to Mozart, you can enjoy the spectacular high C's for soprano, among other things.
In 1996, conductor Pieter Jan Leusink founded The Bach Orchestra of the Netherlands, consisting of musicians specialised in the performance of Baroque music. The passionate musicians play authentic instruments from this style period, which results in a specific sound colour of the baroque orchestra. The orchestra's tuning is a semitone lower than that of a modern orchestra: A=415Hz instead of A=440Hz.
Authentic instruments from the classical period are also played during performances of Mozart's Requiem, for example. The tuning is A=430Hz. Conductor Pieter Jan Leusink and his musicians are constantly searching for the ultimate interpretations of Bach's compositions in particular. The traditional performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion have become the most visited in the Netherlands, with 40,000 visitors annually.
In 2006, a professional choir was added to the orchestra: The Bach Choir of the Netherlands. This is the only baroque ensemble in the Netherlands that works with a permanent line-up and in this way has grown into one of the leading choirs in the international performance of early music. With more than 80 concerts each year, The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands, conducted by Pieter Jan Leusink, has become an important provider of classical concerts in the Dutch music world.
The enormous flexibility of all musicians contributes to the great differentiation in the programming. Bach's St. Matthew Passion switches effortlessly to Mozart's Requiem, and the same flexibility is shown musically in both Allegri's world-famous Misereri mei and Fauré's Requiem.
During the concerts, a great involvement of the musicians is visible, which ensures performances that are sparkling, full of emotion and spirituality and with an unprecedented loyalty to the compositions that are performed. Not least, the hand of artistic director and conductor Pieter Jan Leusink is visible.