Ger van der Tang.
Newspaper AD/De Dordtenaar, Dordrecht.

A surprisingly great number of opera loving people did enjoy the concert of the Orpheus Ensemble last Saturday evening, which concert was dedicated to the music of Vincenzo Bellini, the grand-master of the romantic belcanto. Before the interval the audience could hear fragments out of La Straniera (1829) and I Puritani (1835), being the last piece of the Sicilian who died at an early age. The beautiful choir singing was striking. Like the modest, qua dynamic nuances nicely built up Ah dolor out of I Puritani.

Throughout the evening the Orpheus choir demonstrated a magnificent tutti-sound, supported by a solid group of baritones and bass-singers. And the sensitive cantilenas of Bellini appeared to be in the excellent hands of the pianist Ben Martin Weijand. The music out of La Sonnambula caused real miracles. The irresistible charm of the sleep-walker of Bellini and also the inspiring conducting of maestro Ago Verdonschot took the whole Ensemble to a higher standard. The soprano Lydia Belleman and tenor Francois sang a moving Prendi l’anel, the choir a nice Qui la selva and the bass Ruben Gerson excelled in Viva ravviso. The final scene, with Lydia Belleman as a convincing Amina was impressive.

Flabbergasting now and then, moving also at some moments. The Orpheus Ensemble reached up to perfection last Saturday in the Wilhelmina Church in Dordrecht. It resulted in thunders of applause with a standing ovation of the audience in a well filled hall. It was not meant to be a Christmas concert, but surely it was. Not only because of the tasteful Christmas setting of the hall. Also because of the programme which was in a way dedicated to the feast of the Light. It started with a Mass from Charles Gounod and was concluded by the Oratorio de Noël from Camille Saint-Saëns, rarely performed in the Netherlands. In between two compositions from César Franck, also from the 19th century. Anyhow a varied evening. The choir, consisting of 45 advanced amateurs was supported by 5 soloists and accompanied by a small string orchestra, Colla Voce, and two harpists. Striking was the accompaniment on the organ by Gerben Mourik. Sometimes the organ threatened to dominate the sound of the vocal singing but at last the music was restrained again so that the singing showed to full advantage after all. The choir very smartly used the possibilities offered by the almost circular shaped hall. The soloists were singing from the balcony during the Te Deum from Gounod. A surprising change which made the performance visually more attractive. Changing the position did not affect the musical quality at all. Ago Verdonschot was conducting the choir, soloists and musicians with modest enthusiasm and appeared to relax more and more during the concert. With noble grace he accepted the applause on behalf of all participants. Orpheus will perform Christmas Carols in some homes for elderly people later this month. From spring 2007 on the Ensemble will present itself more frequently in smaller music halls.

Ger van der Tang, Dordrecht.

With a voice of singing from Martin Shaw formed an appropriate upbeat to a concert of the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and the Orpheus Ensemble from Dordrecht last saturday evening. With this joint performance the partnership of a quarter of a century between both towns was celebrated, as recalled to memory by chairman Anton Willemse of Orpheus and the British conductor Roger Wilcock (speaking perfectly understandable Dutch). Also the Mayor Mr. Bandell and Lady Mayor Maureen Charlesworth dwelled on the outstanding relationship between Dordrecht and Hastings, one of the famous Cinq Ports at the English south coast. Accompanied by Francis Rayner the guests from Hastings started with the polyphony of Rorate coeli from Palestrina and they certainly did not make it easy for themselves.However the Ave Verum from Mozart and in particular Tibie paiom from Bortnjanski, with a beautifully continued pianissimo, sounded magnificiently. And in some folk songs, particularly Blow the wind southerly, the typical warm tone colour of the British “tenor voice” suddenly appeared. A remarkable effect.Orpheus performed, singing very concentrated, three pieces of Les sept paroles du Chirst en croix, with a solo of the conductor Ago Verdonschot. In the beginning the sopranos had a veiled and restricted open sound.This imperfection was disappeared when singing the cheerful The Dance from the Bavarian Highlands from Elgar.Also beautiful was the intimate False love from this cycle. And accomponist Caecilia Boschman excelled in two quartets from Rossini: I Gondolieri and La Passeggiata,sung by Orpheus convincingly. Very impressive indeed was the joint performance of the “sister choirs” in a magnificient Locus iste and a strikely dramatic Ave Maria from Bruckner.And Zadok the Priest from Händel, the traditional anthem for the coronation ceremonies in Great Britain, concluded festively a successful concert.