The Netherlands Chamber Choir exists since 1937, and has been one of the world’s top choirs for decades. The Netherlands Chamber Choir has been internationally praised by critics for its homogeneous sound and for the soloist quality of the singers. One of the choir’s missions is to keep choral music very much alive as an art form, by looking for new formats, by innovative commissions and exciting collaborations. It results in concerts that are not only perceived as beautiful, but that appeal to all senses.
Education and participation are a vital part of the choir’s mission. The Netherlands Chamber Choir provides coaching, workshops, and ‘adopts’ choirs as supporting act for their own concerts.
Besides their own concert series, the choir often collaborates with renowned ensembles such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, ASKO|Schönberg, La Fenice and Concert Lorrain.
From August 1, 2015 Peter Dijkstra watches over the unique sound of the Netherlands Chamber Choir The Netherlands Chamber Choir had Felix de Nobel as its first chief conductor. Uwe Gronostay, Tõnu Kaljuste, Stephen Layton and Risto Joost were his respective successors. Each of them gave the Netherlands Chamber Choir, and choral music in general, new, major impulses.
Claude Debussy was a French composer. He and Maurice Ravel were the most prominent figures associated with impressionist music, though Debussy disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1903. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed.
Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of non-traditional tonalities. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant
Among his most famous works are his Clair de Lune, his Three Nocturnes and his orchestral piece La Mer.
The music by Olivier Messiaen is a combination of devout catholicism, extravagant imagination and love for nature. Initially, he made a name for himself by composing large-scale cycles and verbose titles. At several occasions, Messiaen explicated his intentions, which often included theology, symbology, and extensive considerations of colour, church modes and rhythm. Perhaps ironically, this colour composer was able to leave his mark on the less colourful avant-garde of the 1950s as well. With his 'Mode de valeurs et d'intensités', part 4 of his Quatre études de rythme, pointed the way for his students Stockhausen and Boulez, who developed serialism further. Messiaen's own development is characterised by the integration of birg song, which he recorded in the wild with his sketchbook and tape recorder. The pinnacle of his work is his opera Saint François d'Assise. This colossol work is over four hours long. Its longest scene contains a giant bird choir, with bird species from Umbria (the home country of Saint François) to new Caledonia.
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