The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 early-music group based in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

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The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

 and harpsichordist

Harpsichordist

A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord.Many baroque composers played the harpsichord, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau...

 Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...

. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992. They have performed in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw

Concertgebouw

The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...

 Amsterdam, Barbican Centre

Barbican Centre

The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...

 London, Konzerthaus, Vienna

Konzerthaus, Vienna

The Konzerthaus in Vienna was opened 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both tradition and innovative musical styles.In 1890 the first ideas for a Haus für Musikfeste came about...

, Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...

 New York and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space

The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space is a Japanese concert hall and theater located in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.- External links :...

 Tokyo.

The first concert of the choir and orchestra premiered two works of Heinrich Ignaz Biber

Heinrich Ignaz Biber

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Born in the small Bohemian town of Wartenberg , Biber worked at Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his Kroměříž employer and settled in Salzburg...

, Requiem (for 15 voices) and Vespers (for 32 voices), at the 1992 Festival of Early Music in Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

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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

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

. 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. Soloists for this project included sopranos Els Bongers

Els Bongers

Els Bongers is a Dutch soprano singer active in concert, opera and musical theatre.- Biography :Els Bongers studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam with Margreet Honig and Jan-Hendrik Rootering, where she received her diploma in 1993...

, Ruth Holton

Ruth Holton

-Training:Holton won a choral exhibition at Clare College, Cambridge and studied music there. Her later musical studies were with Elizabeth Lane, Nancy Long and Julie Kennard.-Career:...

, Lisa Larsson

Lisa Larsson

- Biography :Larsson studied in Basel and since 1993 appeared in the Internationales Opernstudio of the Zurich Opera House under conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Christoph von Dohnányi....

, Marlis Petersen

Marlis Petersen

Marlis Petersen is a German coloratura soprano, particularly known for her performances in the title role of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, and as Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos....

, Sandrine Piau

Sandrine Piau

Sandrine Piau is an opera soprano. Trained as a harpist, she studied voice at the Collège Lamartine and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique du Paris....

, Dorothea Röschmann

Dorothea Röschmann

Dorothea Röschmann is a German opera soprano from Flensburg.-Education and early life:Röschmann studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, under Barbara Schlick at the Akademie für Alte Musik in Bremen, and subsequently in Los Angeles, New York, Tel Aviv, and under Vera Rózsa in London...

, Sibylla Rubens

Sibylla Rubens

- Biography :Sibylla Rubens studied voice at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt and in master classes with Edith Mathis....

, Barbara Schlick

Barbara Schlick

Barbara Schlick is a German soprano who is particularly admired for interpretations of the concert literature of the baroque era.-Career:...

, Caroline Stam

Caroline Stam

Caroline Stam is a Dutch classical soprano who has an international performing career specializing in baroque repertoire, reinforced by a distinguished presence in modern recordings .- Biography :...

 (a member of the choir from the beginning), Deborah York

Deborah York

Deborah York is a British classical soprano in concert and opera, living in Berlin.- Biography :Deborah York studied voice at the University of Manchester, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree, and in London with Laura Sarti and Janice Chapman.She has appeared regularly at the Bayerische...

, Ruth Ziesak

Ruth Ziesak

- Biography :Ruth Ziesak studied voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Elsa Cavelti and Christoph Prégardien. She has been a member of the Municipal Theatre Heidelberg since 1988 and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1990....

 and Johannette Zomer

Johannette Zomer

- Biography :Johannette Zomer studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam in Amsterdam with Charles van Tassel and received her Performance Diploma in 1997....

, altos Bogna Bartosz

Bogna Bartosz

Bogna Bartosz is a Polish classical mezzo-soprano and alto.- Biography :Bogna Bartosz studied voice at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and graduated with distinction...

, Michael Chance

Michael Chance

Michael Chance CBE is an English countertenor.Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing up as a chorister he attended Eton College, Berkshire, and later King's College, Cambridge...

, Franziska Gottwald

Franziska Gottwald

Franziska Gottwald is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert.- Biography :Franziska Gottwald received her first voice training at the age of 16 with Prof. Eugen Rabine and studied voice at the Academies of Music in Saarbrücken, Hannover and Weimar...

, Bernhard Landauer

Bernhard Landauer

Bernhard Landauer is an Austrian countertenor.Following his first concert and stage experience as soprano soloist with the Boys' Choir of Wilten Monastery , he studied voice at the Vienna Academy of Music under Helene Karusso and Kurt Equiluz...

, Elisabeth von Magnus

Elisabeth von Magnus

Elisabeth von Magnus is an Austrian classical mezzo-soprano.- Family :...

, Annette Markert

Annette Markert

Annette Markert is a German classical mezzo-soprano and alto.- Biography :Annette Markert studied voice at the Leipzig School of Music and was engaged at the Halle Opera House in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt from 1983 to 1990, then at the opera house in Leipzig.Since 1996 she has worked as a free-lance...

, Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range. He is noted as a specialist in Baroque music.-Childhood:...

, Nathalie Stutzmann

Nathalie Stutzmann

Nathalie Stutzmann is a contemporary opera singer, renowned for her contralto voice.Born in Suresnes, France, 1965, she first studied with her mother , then at Nantes Conservatoire and later, at the Ecole d’Art Lyrique de l’Opéra de Paris, focusing on lied, under Hans Hotter's tutelage...

 and Kai Wessel

Kai Wessel

Kai Wessel is a German countertenor and a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik Köln.- Professional career :Kai Wessel started singing in school choirs and as a boy soprano at the Christus-Kirche of Hamburg-Wandsbek and received lessons on piano, organ and oboe...

, tenors Paul Agnew

Paul Agnew

Paul Agnew is a Scottish operatic tenor.Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the Consort of Musicke, the Tallis Scholars, the Sixteen and the Gothic Voices, before embarking on a solo career in the early 1990s.Closely associated with William...

, Jörg Dürmüller

Jörg Dürmüller

Jörg Dürmüller is a Swiss classical tenor in concert and opera.- Biography :Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the conservatory of Winterthur and took voice master classes with Edith Mathis, Christa Ludwig and Hermann Prey....

, James Gilchrist

James Gilchrist (tenor)

James Gilchrist is a British tenor specialising in recital and oratoria singing. He began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time music career in 1996...

, Guy de Mey

Guy de Mey

Guy de Mey is a Belgian tenor from Sint-Niklaas. He studied with Stella Dalberg, Erna Spoorenberg, Sir Peter Pears and Eric Tappy....

, Christoph Prégardien

Christoph Prégardien

Christoph Prégardien is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music...

 and Gerd Türk

Gerd Türk

- Biography :Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, continuing in master classes with Ernst Haefliger and Kurt Equiluz.In the field of...

, and bass Klaus Mertens

Klaus Mertens

Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...

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In 2005 they commenced a project Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia

Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia

Dieterich Buxtehude - Opera Omnia is a project to record the complete works of the German Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude.- History :...

 to record the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...

 (in progress). Singers for this project have additionally included sopranos Bettina Pahn, Miriam Meyer, Siri Thornhill

Siri Thornhill

Siri Karoline Thornhill, born in England, is a Norwegian classical soprano for concert and opera, known for singing music of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Professional career :...

, Orlanda Velez Isidro, altos Robin Blaze

Robin Blaze

- Childhood and education :The son of a professional golfer Peter, Robin Blaze grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, Uppingham School, and Magdalen College, Oxford....

, Patrick Van Goethem

Patrick Van Goethem

Patrick Van Goethem is a Belgian countertenor, known for performing early music.-Professional career:Patrick Van Goethem studied with Paul Esswood, Julia Hamari and Andreas Scholl...

, Hugo Naessens, Daniel Taylor

Daniel Taylor (countertenor)

Daniel Taylor is a Canadian countertenor and early music specialist. He completed his undergraduate studies in English, philosophy, and music at the the Faculty of Music of McGill University and his graduate work in religion and music at the Université de Montréal...

, tenor Andreas Karasiak

Andreas Karasiak

- Biography :Andreas Karasiak studied voice at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz with Claudia Eder. He studied Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with René Jacobs in Basel....

 and bass Donald Bentvelsen.

External links

• Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir at Ton Koopman website, 2009
• Entries to Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir in WorldCat
  WorldCat
  WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...