Emma has been invited to join the orchestra of the Dutch Royal Air Forcefor a second year running at the remembrance ceremony at the Pieterskerk in Leiden for the anniversary of the Liberation of Leiden on 3rd October, 1574. She will sing “The Holy City” by Michael Maybrick (Stephen Adams).
Please see below for a film of Emma singing during last year’s ceremony.
Thursday, 3rd October, 10:00, Pieterskerk, Leiden
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 will visit Budapest, Hungary, for a series of concerts with guitarist Robert Sinha in late September. Robert and Emma worked together to create a broad programme of music from different eras and cultures for the commemoration of the Dutch Admiral De Ruyter in Amsterdam last February. They will present a programme of music from the British Isles and Ireland at venues in Budapest and Cegled. They will also visit a bilingual Hungarian-Englishgrammar school to give a mini concert and an questions-and-answers session with the pupils, and record a music video.
Thursday, 26th September, concert in Kondor Bela Kozossegi Haz, Budapest
Friday, 27th September, Cegled Evangelical Church, Cegled
Saturday, 28th September, Nyitott Muhely, Budapest
On Sunday, 22nd September Emma will sing in Mierlo-Hout, the Netherlands, as part of the town’s commemorations marking seventy-five years since the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944 – 1945. She will join the Band of Liberation with conductor Simon Dubbelaar for a concert, followed by a parade and a remembrance ceremony.
Sunday, 22nd September, Mierlo-Hout, the Netherlands
12:30 – concert in Wijkhuis de Geseldonk
15:00 – ceremony at the town’s monument
For more information (in Dutch), please see here and scroll down.
The GelreDome in Arnhem, the Netherlands.
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.
Arnhem during the Second World War.
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.