On 19th and 20th October, Emma will visit Venray, the Netherlands to sing in two concerts to celebrate the liberation of the town seventy-five years ago.

On 19th October she will give a concert with M.M.S.K. St. Petrus’ Banden, The Stuart Singers, and vocalists Don Mulders and Anna Joan in the Schouowburg theatre. Some of the last surviving British veterans who liberated the town will be present.

On 20th October, after the ceremony at the British war cemetery, Emma will sing at Geijsteren Castle together with Theaterchor Niederrhein, The Stuart Singers, and the chamber choir of Geijsteren, together with the Reünieorkest van de Limburgse Jagers en het St. Willibrordusgilde uit Geijsteren, with conductor Geert Verhallen.

19th October, 20:15, Schouwburg, Venray, the Netherlands

For tickets, please follow this link.

20th October, 14:30, Geijsteren Castle, Venray, the Netherlands

Emma will return to Nottingham to sing in a special performance of Karl Jenkins’s “The Armed Man” together with a joint choir from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and the Nottingham Concert Orchestra under Dutch conductor Martin van der Brugge. She will also perform ‘Villanelle’ from Berlioz’s “Nuits d’Été” and ‘Where corals lie’ from Elgar’s “Sea Pictures” with the Nottingham Concert Orchestra and British conductor Angela Kay. The event is organised by Music for Everyone, the wonderful foundation through which Emma began singing when she was around six years old.

Saturday, 12th October, 19:30, Albert Hall, Nottingham

For tickets, please follow this link.

Emma is really delighted to have been commissionedto compose for Leiden’s carillon. The twelve-minute piece tells the story of the siege and liberation of Leiden: the starvation of its citizens, the storm and the floods which allowed the Sea Beggars to reach the city, the church services of thanksgiving that the siege was over, and the celebrations with herring, white bread, and the hutspot brought by Cornelis Joppenszoon. On request, the composition quotes well-known ‘3 Oktober’ songs as part of its musical narrative and is intended to be music with a broad appeal to the general public. Carillonneur Levina Pors will present the piece on the carillon of Leiden’s City Hall.

With thanks to Hein van Woerden and the Van der Mandele Stichting, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Zuid-Holland, the Leiden City Council, the 3 October Vereeniging, Leiden, and Het Leids Carillon Genootschap for their support.

Wednesday, 2nd October, 16:00, City Hall (square), Leiden

Emma is delighted to have been invited to sing at the Airborne football match in the GelreDome in Arnhem, the Netherlands. This will be a friendly match between Vitesse and Fortuna-Sittard, to which many Airborne veterans have been invited. Emma will sing “We’ll Meet Again” at the conclusion of the match. It will be broadcast on Dutch television.

Saturday, 21st September, 20:45, GelreDome, Arnhem, the Netherlands.

On 20th September, Emma will sing during the Airborne Remembrance ceremony in Arnhem, the Netherlands, marking seventy-five years since Operation Market Garden, in the presence of veterans and HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Prof. Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven.

Operation Market Garden was one of the largest allied operation of the Second World War. The goal was to take the crucial bridges over the rivers in the east of the Netherlands in order to be able to move troops towards Germany.Over 35,000 troops were dropped in and around Arnhem. However, they were not enough to take the bridges and the operation failed.

The Dutch still show their tremendous gratitude to the veterans who tried so bravely to liberate them in 1944. As the Arnhem City Council write on their website “On 20 September we will commemorate them: both in order never to forget, and to keep the connection between past and the present alive. Because, even in 2019, peace, security, and freedom cannot be taken for granted.”

18:15 Ceremony in the Eusebius Church (by invitation only)
18:45 Silent parade to the Airborne Memorial
19:15 Remembrance ceremony and laying of wreaths at the Airborne Memorial

Emma is delighted to betravelingto Ireland to sing in a fundraising concert for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in the presence of Christina Noble herself. She will take part in a concert in Westport together with tenor Alan McGinty, pianist Michael Quinn, and the Westport Children’s Choir on 17th September.

Christina Noble grew up in extreme poverty in Dublin. After dreaming vividly about children in Vietnam, she visited the country and set up a centre for street children. Her foundation now works in Vietnam and Mongolia: it has helped thousands of children. This year is the thirtieth anniversary of the foundation.

The concert on Tuesday, 17th September will involve music and stories about Christina’s life and work.

17th September, 20:00, Westport Town Hall Theatre, Westport, Ireland

Tickets are available here.