Amore & Addio! On 24 & 25 May 2025. Want to be informed timely? Subscribe to our newsletter!
Photonen is preparing a new programme: a mix of beautiful early and contemporary music about love and farewell. Music by Monteverdi, Primavera, Górecki, Tavener, Kleppe and Wantenaar. We will also pay tribute to the oeuvre of Palestrina, who was born 500 years ago. Furthermore, in this programme we will collaborate with cello player Marien van Staalen in two compositions.
Amore & Addio! is a compelling and original programme. In both polyphonic Renaissance music and in contemporary music, it is entirely dedicated to the different aspects of love; ranging from being in love, playfulness and passionate desire full of poetic metaphors and total surrender to unattainable love, melancholy and the poignant loss through death.
Graceful
Photonen sings three madrigals by Monteverdi, which would not be out of place in an opera. In Quam pulchri sunt, Palestrina enthusiastically illustrates the graceful feet and movement of the beloved on a Song of Songs text. Joost Kleppe created an impressionistic setting of a love poem by Dutch poet Jan Hanlo.
But intense sorrow is not lacking in this programme: The eight-part Lugebat David Absalon, by the Renaissance composer Gombert, is a dramatic expression of the sorrow of King David at the death of his son Absalom.
Joyful mass
A few works occupy a special place on the programme: the mass Nasce la gioia mia by Palestrina, of which three parts are woven into the programme. Palestrina was inspired by the love madrigal by the same name (also on the programme) by Primavera. Another important piece is Totus Tuus by the Polish composer Górecki. This atmospheric work, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was performed during the reopening of Notre-Dame in Paris. Photonen will also perform a simple love song by Górecki, rooted in folklore.
Violoncello
An almost mind-expanding composition is Svyati (‘Holy’) by John Tavener. This Church Slavonic prayer is sung during Orthodox funerals; the harmonies are melancholic, with a special role for the violoncello. Does it embody the soul? In Tant que mes yeus, the second part of a new composition by Mathilde Wantenaar, the violoncello enters into a duet with the choir as well. The piece was commissioned by Cappella Amsterdam, which it premiered at the fall of 2024.
Cello soloist Marien van Staalen will perform also, in a short instrumental intermezzo, an Indian raga, that is dedicated to love.
Amore & Addio! is a lyrical, timeless and spiritual programme, in which compositions complement each other wonderfully.
Conductor: Jeroen Spitteler
Soloist: Marien van Staalen, violoncello
Marien van Staalen is a renowned cellist, was the first solo cellist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has been affiliated with the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and with Codarts, University of the Arts in Rotterdam. He forms a permanent duo with the Belgian pianist Jozef de Beenhouwer. Together they founded the Robert Schumann Trio. Marien van Staalen has made a large number of CD recordings as a violoncellist and conductor. Leon Orthel and Jacob ter Veldhuis dedicated cello concertos to him.
Programme (order not yet known):
Nicolas Gombert (ca 1495 – 1560) – Lugebat David Absalon
Giovan Leonardo Primavera (ca 1540 – ca 1585) – Nasce la gioia mia
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (ca 1525 – 1590) – Missa Nasce la gioia mia (three parts)
Palestrina – Quam Pulchri Sunt
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643) – Three love madrigals from Madrigal Book V
- Ch’io t’ami, e t’ami più de la mia vita
- Deh! bella e cara e si soave un tempo
- Ma tu, più che mai dura
Henryk Górecki (1933 – 2010) – Totus Tuus
Górecki – Ciamna nocka, ciamna – (Dark night, how dark) from: Five Kurpian folk songs
Marien van Staalen – Instrumental intermezzo Indian Raga (cello)
John Tavener (1944 – 2013) – Svyati. For cello and choir
Joost Kleppe – Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent
Mathilde Wantenaar – Tant Que Mes Yeus – from: La Noche Oscura del Alma (2024). For choir and cello.
Saturday 24 May 2025 – 8:15 p.m. – HAARLEM – Waalse Kerk
Begijnhof 28, Haarlem
Sunday 25 May 2025 – 3:15 p.m. – AMSTERDAM – Dominicuskerk
Spuistraat 12, Amsterdam
Tickets:
Presale € 19,50 / € 17
At the venue € 21 / € 18,50
Reduced prices apply to CPJ/student/Haarlempas/Amsterdamse stadspas with green dot.
Presale ends on Wednesday 21 May at 11.59 pm, after which venue prices will apply automatically. Ticketkantoor online sale ends 15 minutes prior to the concert. At the venue payments in cash, by debit card or smartphone are accepted. Photonen does not charge transaction fees.
Want to join?
At the moment there are vacancies within the tenor and baritone sections. Spreek je Nederlands en heb je interesse? We repeteren op donderdagavond nabij station Amsterdam Zuid. Meer info vind je hier.
Sunday 22 December 2024
Christmas Music through the Ages
A Festival of Carols and Christmas Songs
Many composers got totally inspired by Christmas. Photonen Vocaal Ensemble enjoys sharing with you a choice of well-known and relatively unknown beautiful Christmas music.
Contemplative and sparkling
Veni, veni Emmanuel by Kodály, based on the well-known medieval melody, will get you right into the Christmas spirit; you can relax with the tranquil Ne timeas Maria by the Renaissance Spanish composer De Victoria, and enjoy he radiant Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. There will be also splendid, somewhat more modern, yet accessible harmonies in Lulla, Lully by Kenneth Leighton and Hymn to the Virgin by Benjamin Britten.
Carols and Christmas Songs
The choir also performs Christmas carols in various languages, such as Noël Nouvelet (arr. King’s Singers), Es ist ein Ros entsprungen by Praetorius, Entre le boeuf et l’Âne gris and the Swedish Jul, jul, strålande jul as well as swinging early Dutch carols. Conductor Jeroen Spitteler looks forward to surprise the audience: “Christmas music is such an appealing repertoire. And sometimes you can find the loveliest of gems in our own Dutch musical treasure trove…”
Photonen also invites you to sing along with several traditional Christmas carols.
Sunday 22 December 2024 – 3.15 pm
Oud-Katholieke kerk (Ruysdaelkerk), Ruysdaelstraat 39, 1071 XA Amsterdam
The Ruysdaelkerk has a limited capacity. Kindly be advised to get your tickets timely in presale.
Admission: THE CONCERT IS SOLD OUT, THERE WILL BE NO TICKETS AT THE VENUE
Presale €18 / €15,50
At the venue €19,50 / €17
Children up to 12 years €10
Photonen does not charge transaction costs.
The discount rate applies to CJP / Student / A’dam city pass with green dot.
Presale ends at 11:59 pm the day before the concert.
After this, the venue rate will be charged – also for tickets purchased online.
Online ticket sales close at 3 pm on the day of the concert, after which tickets can only be purchased at the venue’s box office. Here you can pay in cash, with a debit card, or with a smartphone.
19 October 2024
Shadows of Paradise
Photonen’s conductor Jeroen Spitteler has been invited to act as a guest conductor with the Utrecht based ensemble Coqu. Fortunately, singer and conductor Gulian van Nierop has been willing to take over as guest conductor with Photonen. Under his leadership we perform a fine new a cappella programme on Saturday 19 October in the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam (near Amsterdam Central train station). Shadows of Paradise brings contemplative, comforting but also cheerful choral sounds from England and Scandinavia. The compositions date from the late 19th to the early 21st century.
Eternity
The main work on the programme is Herbert Howells‘ magnificent Requiem from 1932. In an impressionistic style, he reaches back to the polyphony of the English Renaissance and offers us beautiful, spacious harmonies and finely abrasive dissonances. The texts are from the Bible (e.g. English psalms) and the Latin requiem mass.
My Soul, there is a country far beyond the stars – Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)
Based on the text of a 17th century poem by Henry Vaughan, Hubert Parry’s music expresses an intense longing for peace, in a frozen pain about his friends who died in the First World War, while John Tavener and James MacMillan make us ponder, with Song for Athene and Who shall separate us?, which both became known through funerals within the English royal family. In addition, Hjálmar Ragnarsson and Pärt Uusberg rendered choir songs on death from Iceland and Estonia.
Playfulness
Our guest conductor Gulian van Nierop wonders: how to sing about death if not also sing about life? As a counterpart, Photonen brings disarming, witty children’s songs by John Rutter and Edvard Grieg, which do have a catchy cheerful swing.
Saturday 19 October 2024 – 8.15 pm
Dominicuskerk, Spuistraat 12, 1012 TS Amsterdam
Admission:
Presale € 18 / € 15,50
At the venue € 19,50 / € 17
Children up to 12 years € 10 (both online and at the venue)
Kindly note: We do not charge any administration fees. The discounted rate applies to student/CJP/Amsterdamse Stadspas with green dot. The presale rate is valid until 11:59 pm on the day before the concert. You can purchase online tickets until 3 pm on the day of the concert. After that only at the cash register at the venue, either by debit card, in cash or with your smartphone.