Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir

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Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
FolleJournee2009 AmsterdamBaroqueOrchestra.jpg
The orchestra during La Folle Journée in 2009
Founded
  • 1979 (1979) (orchestra)
  • 1992 (choir)
Location Amsterdam, Netherlands
Principal conductor Ton Koopman
Website www.amsterdambaroque.com/en

The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992. [1] They have performed in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre London, Konzerthaus, Vienna, Lincoln Center New York and Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre.

The first concert of the choir and orchestra premiered two works of Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices), at the 1992 Festival of Early Music in Utrecht. [1]

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. 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. [2] Soloists for this project included sopranos Els Bongers, Ruth Holton, Lisa Larsson, Marlis Petersen, Sandrine Piau, Dorothea Röschmann, Sibylla Rubens, Barbara Schlick, Caroline Stam (a member of the choir from the beginning), Deborah York, Ruth Ziesak and Johannette Zomer, altos Bogna Bartosz, Michael Chance, Franziska Gottwald, Bernhard Landauer, Elisabeth von Magnus, Annette Markert, Andreas Scholl, Nathalie Stutzmann and Kai Wessel, tenors Paul Agnew, Jörg Dürmüller, James Gilchrist, Guy de Mey, Christoph Prégardien and Gerd Türk, and bass Klaus Mertens. [3]

In 2005 they commenced a project Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia to record the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude (completed in 2014). [4] Singers for this project have additionally included sopranos Bettina Pahn  [ de ], Miriam Meyer  [ de ], Siri Thornhill, Orlanda Velez Isidro, altos Robin Blaze, Patrick Van Goethem, Hugo Naessens, Daniel Taylor, tenor Andreas Karasiak and bass Donald Bentvelsen. [5]

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Daniel John Taylor, is a Canadian countertenor, conductor and early music specialist. He is one of Canada's most celebrated cultural ambassadors, known for his warmth and humour and a voice that draws global applause. Taylor directs the Trinity Choir, the Theatre of Early Music and is Professor of Opera, Voice and Early Music at the University of Toronto.

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<i>Angenehmes Wiederau</i>, BWV 30a

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Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia is a project to record the complete works of the Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude, completed in October 2014 and released on Challenge Records.

Siri Karoline Thornhill is a Norwegian classical soprano for concert and opera, known for singing music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

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Das neugeborne Kindelein, BWV 122, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the chorale cantata in six movements in Leipzig for the Sunday after Christmas and first performed it on 31 December 1724.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bach cantatas (Koopman)</span> Recording series

The Bach cantatas project of Ton Koopman was the first complete recording of all the cantatas, including the 21 secular cantatas. Koopman conducted the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir and guest solo singers. The project began in 1995 and was completed in 2005 on 67 CDs.

<i>Mit Fried und Freud</i> (Buxtehude)

Mit Fried und Freud, BuxWV 76, is the common name for a piece of funeral music composed by Dieterich Buxtehude as an homage to his father in 1674. The composer named the work Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfarth when he published it the same year. It is a bundle of two compositions, the earlier Mit Fried und Freud, BuxWV 76a, a setting of Luther's hymn Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin composed in 1671 reflecting the death of Menno Hanneken, and the elegy Klag-Lied, BuxWV 76b, an aria in seven stanzas. The incipit of the elegy, "Muß der Tod denn auch entbinden", translates roughly to "Even if death must separate us". It is one of few compositions published during Buxtehude's lifetime.

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References

  1. 1 2 Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir on Bach Cantatas, 2001
  2. ↑ Bach cantatas Archived 23 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine details on volumes 1–22, Antoine Marchand
  3. ↑ Bach: Cantatas Vol. 22 / Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine review of Vol. 22 and the complete recordings by George Chien in Fanfare
  4. ↑ Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707) Opera Omnia XI – Vocal Works 4 review by Mark Sealey, March 2010
  5. ↑ Dieterich Buxtehude - Opera Omnia Archived 23 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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