Emma is grateful to the Leidse Cantorij for singing her introit for the second Sunday of Advent for the Leiden inner-city congregation last Sunday, in the Hooglandse Kerk. The text, “Populus Sion” is from the Gregorian Missal. The Leidse Cantorij have sung at St. Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster, Gloucester Cathedral and at the royal wedding of HRH Pieter-Christiaan, Prince of Orange-Nassau.
The Leidse Cantorij is conducted by Hans Brons.
Last month I was asked to sing in a place where I never though I would experience music: the former Nazi transit camp in Westerbork, the Netherlands.
Over 97,000 people passed through Camp Westerbork. Almost all of them were transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor and murdered.
One of the prisoners was soprano Erna Eisner Abramowitz. She sang for Camp Commander Gemmeker in his entertainment evenings. Through her performances, she was able to postpone further deportation for herself and her family. But after the very last concert, the camp commander withdrew all exemptions. Erna and her family were transported and murdered.
The recordings took place on the very spot where Erna sang her last performance.
Please take a moment to watch the documentary (in Dutch) so that Erna’s memory is not forgotten.
The documentary is part of a series to mark the 75th anniversary of the Dutch War Graves Commission.
On 11th December Emma will perform as a guest soloist at the Leiden Christmas Tattoo, with five orchestras, as well as dancers and actors. The event will be held on the Pieterskerkplein in Leiden, the Netherlands. Tickets are available through Marching Band Management.
Last week I sang in a place where I would never have expected to have heard music. Camp Westerbork, in the Netherlands, was a Nazi transit camp during the Second World War. Over 97,000 people passed through Camp Westerbork. Almost all of them were transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor.
Singing there was intense. When the recordings are released you will see why. It is a deeply tragic story. The recordings were for an episode in a series of mini-documentaries to make the 75th anniversary of the Dutch War Graves Commission, presented by Lisa Wade, with IDTV.
They document the lives of Dutch people during the Second World War. The series, “Lang Zouden Ze Leven” can be seen on the website of the Dutch War Graves Commission.
Together with pianist David Vaamonde, Emma will give a sneak preview performance of the Kyrie from Jannum Kruidhof’s new mass for piano and mezzo-soprano. The concert is at Codarts Conservatoire, Rotterdam, and will be broadcast via their website to a broader public.
Wednesday, 24th November, 19:30, Codarts, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Nearly eighty years ago, on 23rd November 1941, a joint British-Dutch intelligence operation successfully managed to send a Dutch agent to the occupied Netherlands. The operation was called “Contact Holland.”
Pieter Tazelaar swam from a boat to the beach at Scheveningen. He was wearing black tie evening dress. He poured some Hennessy XO cognac over himself and walked up the beach, pretending to be a drunk reveller, and he was thus able to get past the German guards.
On 20th November, on the windswept boulevard in Scheveningen, a small group of people took a moment to remember the Special Forces agents in the Second World War. The head of the Dutch SAS was there, along with descendants of Tazelaar, and representatives from the Museum Engelandvaarders. A letter was read from Dutch Prince Peter-Christiaan, who works closely with Dutch security forces.
After Emma’s song, a man dressed in a black tie ran up to the boulevard from the beach carrying a torch to symbolise the hope that the intelligence team brought to the Netherlands. The group then raised a toast, of course with Hennessy XO.
The ceremony was organised by Dutch author Victor Laurentius who published a biography of Tazelaar in 2009. Needless to say, Tazelaar and Operation Contact Holland were the inspiration for Ian Flemming’s James Bond.
Friday, 19th November, 2021 marked the centenary of the Ulster Tower, Northern Ireland’s national war memorial. It is located in the Somme, France, along the former German front line, where thousands of young men were killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. To this day bodies are still being recovered in the surrounding fields.
For the first time in history, the band of the Defence Forces Ireland and the Royal Irish Regiment joined together. They accompanied a remembrance service at the tower and gave a concert in the basilica in Albert. Emma was honoured to be working with them, and with their conductors Tom Kelly and Richard Douglas, and performing in the presence of various heads of state and diplomats.