With Christmas music from Germany and Great Britain, the NDR Vokalensemble invites you to get into the festive spirit. Klaas Stok takes over the direction in Hamburg’s Jacobi Church.
Keywords: Vocal Music
| NDR Vokalensemble | |
| Klaas Stok | Director |
Information not provided |
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»It’s one of those pieces to which I dedicated myself completely. It is that work into which I was finally able to pour all the dreams and passions of my youth,« Frank Martin once said about his secular oratorio »Le vin herbé«, with which he enjoyed great success after the 1942 premiere, when he was already over 50. His choice of material was certainly youthful: the work tells the tale of the rapturous and uncompromising lovers whose future together is surrounded by obstacles. Martin’s oratorio is based on the novel by Joseph Bédier, whose retelling placed the story closer to the original medieval Celtic legend; the composer found archaic sounds to portray the events. »Le vin herbé«, which is named after the magic potion that ignites Tristan and Isolde’s love for one another, was a great success in the opera version, but the composer himself preferred it performed as an oratorio.
Unfortunately, this concert has to be moved to St Marien-Dom Hamburg, as St Jacobi Church will be closed from now until February due to urgent renovation work. Tickets already purchased will of course remain valid. Ticket purchasers will be informed of this change by e-mail.
Commissioned by Vienna’s »Tonkünstler-Societät« (»Society of Musicians«), Mozart wrote the cantata »Davide penitente« (»David repents«) for Lent, using parts of his large-scale Mass in C minor. He follows in the footsteps of composers including Johann Sebastian Bach with this cantata, written for a benefit concert in aid of widows and orphans of professional musicians. In Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor, he presented top-class music that had already been composed in a new form.
The NDR Vokalensemble and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin perform works by Antonio Lotti, Antonio Vivaldi and Antonio Caldara in the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall. The conductor is Klaas Stok. Antonio must have been a real fashionable name for a while. How else can it be explained that three Venetians named Antonio achieved world fame at almost the same time? Antonio Lotti, Antonio Caldara, and Antonio Vivaldi, who is still famous today. Born and educated in the musical metropolis of the Baroque par excellence, the three composers developed into Venice’s most important export hits. Greats such as Johann Sebastian Bach studied their works, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stole one or two musical figures for his own compositions.
Out of the traditional concert halls and into the vibrant Hamburg club scene! In the »voiceXchange« concert series, four singers from the NDR Vokalensemble regularly invite artists and ensembles from different genres and styles to explore new ways of musical collaboration and build artistic bridges to the here and now. At this concert, Hamburg’s Club Gruenspan will be transformed into a venue for musical discoveries far removed from the classical cosmos.
After the great success of voiceXchange #4, the multiple German champion, European champion and vice world champion in beatboxing, Daniel Mandolini, returns to the NDR Vokalensemble and voiceXchange: classical vocal movements are sampled live, covered, underlaid with beats – and gradually the whole thing turns into a joint club evening.
The four virtuoso percussionists of Elbtonal Percussion have mastered »creative crossover« like no other formation. The ensemble has been travelling the world for 25 years. Their collection of instruments also includes everyday objects that have been repurposed. Spontaneity and improvisation are the basis of all music, in every era. The result is a powerful and multicoloured encounter. Modern vocal composers such as Whitacre or Mäntyjärvi as well as Handel or William Byrd are tested for their percussive qualities. Vocal colours meet tambourine, tonewoods and marimba.
The legendary MS Stubnitz becomes a floating »Xchange« hall. For the twelfth edition of the concert series, the singers of the NDR Vokalensemble have brought the sailors’ marching band mahoin on board. It’s off to new shores when classical vocal music meets fresh shanty folk, brass beats and a good dose of sailor’s yarn. A concert that makes the musical soul of the Hanseatic city dance.
Silvery, trembling chords awaken a sense of moonlight, a rapturous tenor voice soars over the piano and the male choir responds like an echo. As here in »Nachthelle«, Franz Schubert knew how to create poetic worlds with just a few means of expression. The NDR Vokalensemble and pianist Julius Drake, under the direction of its chief conductor Klaas Stok, dedicate a programme to this master of sonic miniatures, which mainly revolves around Schubert’s choral songs. For a romantic sound, a string quintet joins the eight-part choir in works such as »Gesang der Geister über den Wassern«. An enthusiastic follower of the pioneering Romantic composer was also Arnold Schönberg. The inventor of twelve-tone music would have been 150 years old this year. And so the NDR Vokalensemble is adding some Schönberg songs to the Schubert programme. Both composers wrote wonderful works for the voice, often infused with subtle humour. While Schoenberg even named his Opus 28 »Three Satires«, Schubert’s humour is more subtle. In his »Ständchen«, the soloist sneaks up to her sweetheart at night, »hesitantly quietly« according to the text. But in the original version, she is accompanied by a whole male choir. Does the sweetheart dare to come to the window with such concentrated masculinity?
British conductor Simon Halsey leads »SINGING!« 2025 and, together with the NDR Vokalensemble, the award-winning choral conductor wants to breathe new life into the participatory concert after the coronavirus years. Register now to take part!
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