Cappella Amsterdam, Noord Nederlands Orkest & Daniel Ruess
Biography Cappella Amsterdam, Noord Nederlands Orkest & Daniel Ruess
Cappella Amsterdam
The professional chamber choir Cappella Amsterdam was founded in 1970. Over the years, under the direction of Daniel Reuss, it has built up a repertoire ranging from early music to contemporary works (Ton de Leeuw, Hans Koolmees, Robert Heppener, Peter Schat, Klaas de Vries, etc.), with a special focus on promoting Dutch music of today.
Cappella Amsterdam is often asked to appear in productions of operas, including Tan Dun’s Marco Polo, Hier by Guus Jansen and Friso Haverkamp, Rameau’s Les Indes galantes (under Frans Brüggen), and Jan van de Putte’s Wet Snow (Holland Festival 2004). In 2003, along with Krisztina de Chatel’s dance company, the ensemble took part in a series of performances of Obscura, a piece for dancers and singers on the music of the contemporary composer Hans Koolmees.
Cappella Amsterdam is invited to all the leading Dutch festivals, and has also appeared at the Settembre Musica festival in Turin, La Folle Journée in Nantes, the Ars Musica festival in Brussels, and the Berliner Festspiele, as well as in Lisbon, Tokyo, and Bilbao. The choir has collaborated with the Asko/ Schönberg Ensemble (Reinbert de Leeuw, Stephan Asbury), the Ebony Band, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (Nikolaus Harnoncourt), the Hilversum Radio Chamber Orchestra (Peter Eötvös), the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Ensemble Intercontemporain (Jonathan Nott), the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (Frans Brüggen), The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Gustav Leonhardt), the SWR Vocal Ensemble, MusikFabrik, and the RIAS Kammerchor.
Noord Nederlands Orkest
When you think of a Groningen classic, you think of the Noord Nederlands Orkest (NNO). The orchestra ranks among the top in the Netherlands and brings a quirky range of classical music throughout the country. Whether you are a seasoned music lover or just curious about symphonic masterpieces, the NNO makes classical music for everyone.
Built in 1862, the North Netherlands Orchestra is the longest-standing professional symphony orchestra in the Netherlands. At the time, it was known as Orchest der Vereeniging De Harmonie, part of the society De Harmonie in Groningen. With some 70 musicians of 14 different nationalities, the orchestra performs more than 100 concerts per season. The orchestra is at home in the masterpieces of great composers such as Beethoven and Bach, but remains timeless in its combination of classical and modern music, such as that of Avicii.
The NNO may be the orchestra of the North, but its reach extends much further. The orchestra tours all over the country and attracts a wide audience, from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to moshing festival-goers at Lowlands. Primary school pupils are also taken into the world of classical music at special youth concerts. Prefer to enjoy the repertoire at home? No problem, you can also simply listen to the NNO's symphonies on the radio or TV.
Since the early days of De Oosterpoort and its predecessors, this has been the permanent home of the North Netherlands Orchestra. They bring a diverse range of classical music to the venue. The organisation behind De Oosterpoort and the Stadsschouwburg is SPOT Groningen. SPOT is the largest theatre and concert organisation in the Northern Netherlands. The organisation is there for everyone who loves the performing arts: from theatre to cabaret and from dance to music.
