Almost 82 years ago, when the Netherlands was occupied by German forces, Peter Tazelaar travelled from England to Scheveningen by boat. Under his waterproof clothing he wore a tuxedo. Before going ashore, he removed his waterproofs and splashed himself with brandy in order to blend in with the party-goers he expected to find there. But the beach was empty. A curfew had been imposed and he would have been shot immediately had he been seen.

On 22nd November, we remembered Tazelaar and his spirit of resistance. In a closed group, we toasted his memory with Hennessy XO, the same brandy as he had used to disguise himself. Tazelaar had received the bottle from Queen Wilhelmina. I sang “We’ll meet again.”

I’m looking forward to giving an evening recital as part of a series of concerts about language and music. Together with pianist Han Louis Meijer, I will present different musical settings of poems by W.B. Yeats, A.E. Housman, and John Masefield. Composers include Amy Summers, Rebecca Clarke, Dilys Elwyn Evans, Benjamin Britten, and George Butterworth.

Thursday, 30th November, 2023, 20:15, De Leidse Salon, Leiden. For tickets, please visit this webpage.

On Wednesday, 15th November, pianist Lieselotte van Tol and I will give a recital of early-twentieth century and romantic music in Schiedam, the Netherlands.

For more information, please visit this webpage.

I’m delighted to be joining conductor Ronald Corp, the New London Orchestra, Highgate Choral Society, and soloists Gweneth Ann Rand, Ruairi Bowen, and Felix Kemp for a performance of Elijah in London this Saturday. The alto solos are glorious and include singing as Elijah’s guiding angel and as Queen Jezebel.

Saturday, 11th November, 2023, 19:00. For tickets, please visit this webpage.

On Tuesday, 7th November, Lieselotte van Tol and I will give a lunchtime recital in Leiden, the Netherlands. We will present a programme of mostly romantic music from France, Germany, and England.

For more information, in Dutch, please visit this webpage.

I’m deleighted to be singing as a soloist in Duruflé’s Reqiuem this All Souls’ Day.

Maurice Duruflé began composing his requiem in 1941, when France was largely under Nazi occupation. The Vichy Regime approached several French composers to request substantial compositions, ostensibly in order to preserve French culture in the face of occupation. Duruflé was one such composer.

Duruflé based his requiem on the Gregorian Missa pro defunctis, the first composer known to do so since Victoria in the sixteenth century. Having been a chorister at Rouen Cathedral from the age of ten, Duruflé was already immersed in Gregorian Chant. Under Nazi occupation, with culture and traditions under threat, it strikes me as very natural that Duruflé should turn to music that had been sung for many centuries, especially when it was the music of his childhood. In this sense, I feel that Duruflé’s requiem is not only a traditional requiem to mark a death (it was dedicated to his father), but also a requiem for France herself: for those traditional parts of French culture and tradition that were under threat.

I will sing the mezzo-soprano solos in a performance with the Leidse Cantorij, with conductor Hans Brons, organist Willeke Smits, and cellist Ruud Meester.

Sunday, 5th November, 17:00, Hooglandse Kerk, Leiden
Free entrance, no reservations necessary