Concertzender Newsletter

Editorial

The Concertzender in June: a new festival season... and we are making the recordings

Summer is coming, and so are more wonderful festivals! The Musicians Paradise festival with the best jazz, world, soul & fusion for four days in June. Or the more classical Wonderfeel music festival, where the Concertzender will also make recordings.

As a volunteer of our promotion team you can also be there - enjoying music and sharing it with other enthusiasts, that's double the fun.

In the meantime, spoil your ears with live music from our own studio: June 9th is the kick-off of our Pocket Concerts....take it away!

Sunday June 1st

Theme: Contemporary

The versatile songbook of Magdalena Kožená

In Harmonious from June 1, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená makes an impressive journey along songs by five very different composers.

She takes us to the sultry Chansons Madécasses by Ravel, via songs by Shostakovich, Mahler and Schulhoff to the bitter Lullabies by Britten. With her silvery tone and subtle expression, Kožená adds colour to this very diverse repertoire.

Listen: Harmonious, Sunday June 1st, 16:00 - 17:00 CET.

On demand

Theme:Global (World) | Podium Online

Saskia de Haas and Shubhendra Rao on Podium Online

For a long time, no-one was allowed to listen to the special concert of the world-famous cellist Saskia de Haas and sitar player Shubhendra Rao from 2002 (KIT, A’dam) in its entirety.

Fortunately, you can now finally enjoy our recording of this special Indian classical music concert in its entirety! It is not only special because of the virtuosity of both players, but also because of the special instrument that Saskia de Haas plays. She once left for India, out of her interest in Indian music, where she was taught by, among others, the sitar player Shubhendra Rao (himself a student of Ravi Shankar), whom she later married.

In order to make the cello suitable for the Indian musical tradition, she designed (together with violin maker Eduard van Tongeren) a special Indian cello. The instrument has, among other things, 5 playing strings and ten resonance strings that are not played but resonate with the other strings, as is customary with Indian string instruments.

In the concert, Saskia and Shubhendra each play their ‘own’ raga. Saskia starts with the Raga Maru Bihag, Shubhendra then plays the Raga Basant Panchan, a work by his teacher.

Listen: to the full concert of Saskia de Haas and Shubhendra Rao on Podium Online.

Monday June 9th

Theme: Jazz | World of Jazz

Kick-off Pocket Concerts on Monday 9th June

On 9th June, it's time: you can listen and watch Pocket Concerts! Take these intimate concerts with you and watch them on your smartphone, wherever and whenever it suits you. Experience the most beautiful small concerts by both emerging and established musicians in often unexpected line-ups.

Pocket Concerts logo The very first Pocket Concert will be opened by Suzan Veneman on trumpet and flugelhorn, together with Timothy Banchet on piano. To celebrate the start of the Pocket Concerts, you can watch another concert right after, this time with Jasper Somsen on double bass and Anton Goudsmit on guitar.

Pocket Concerts is a project by World of Jazz, inJazz Radio, New Music Now and the Dutch Jazz Archive and can be heard on YouTube. Watch a teaser here; you can also watch and listen on the sites and apps of World of Jazz, inJazz Radio and New Music Now.

On July 7th, 3 Pocket Concerts will be recorded in the studio of De Concertzender, these will be shared on worldofjazz.nl in the weeks after. Stay tuned…

Wednesday June 4th

Theme: Contemporary

Australian choral repertoire

Discover how Western choral traditions are combined with influences from Aboriginal culture. In Contemporary Music on 4 June, the rich and diverse Australian choral tradition takes centre stage.

The Australian Chamber Choir performs works by four contemporary composers, in which we hear both Western choral traditions and influences from Aboriginal culture. For example, Stephen Leek's Dreamtime tells the story of two water spirits, and Christine McCombe incorporates natural sounds and dream images into her pieces.

There are also works by Luke Speedy Hutton and Tom Henry, with music inspired by poetry, history and untold stories. A varied and accessible episode with new sounds from Down Under!

Listen: Contemporary Music, Wednesday June 4th, 20:00 - 22:00 CET.

Saturday June 21st

Theme: Jazz | World of Jazz

John Engels, drummer of the Diamond Five, 90 years old!

In the early 1960s, the Diamond Five was the leading hard bop combo in the Netherlands. Their home base was the Amsterdam jazz club the Sheherazade – for insiders: the Zade – which the members of the quintet also owned.They accompanied many American soloists, including Stan Getz, Phil Woods and Cannonball Adderley.

The legendary quintet was also the core around which Boys Big Band was formed in 1960. Four of the five musicians have passed away, but the still energetic drummer John Engels is celebrating his 90th birthday! A great opportunity to program a selection from the Diamond Five repertoire. The emphasis is on the period 1959-1962.

Listen: House of Hard Bop, Saturday June 21st, 17:00 - 18:00 CET.

On demand

Theme: Podium Online

Podium Online: New recordings to listen to in June

A lot of new recordings have been made in recent months. Every month there are new ones to listen to, and via this link you can keep an eye on which new ones are available and enjoy these special concerts.

Internationaal Song Festival Zeist For example, there are the recordings of the contemporary Rotterdam composer and musician Reinier van Houdt, and of the International Song Festival Zeist that took place at the end of May. Several recordings from this festival will become available, including the programmes Songs on poetry and Monologe, in which the big questions of life are considered using songs and song cycles from Schubert to Ives and Barber.

We wish you a lot of (re)listening pleasure!

Sunday June 15th

Theme: Early

Discounts for Dido & Aeneas with Sarah Connolly in het Concertgebouw

A one-off performance of Dido & Aeneas, the famous opera by Henry Purcell with the beautiful Lamento, will take place on Sunday evening 15 June in het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam – and you can buy tickets with a discount.

The role of Dido will be played by none other than mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly. She has established a reputation as the best Dido of the last decades. Soprano Alison Lau is Belinda and countertenor Arturo den Hartog takes on the role of Aeneas. The singers will be accompanied by the baroque ensemble Il Gardellino conducted by Korneel Bernolet. Before the interval, several songs from The Fairy Queen and King Arthur will also be performed (including Cold Song).

Readers of the Concertzender newsletter can attend this one-off performance with a €15 discount! The discount is valid for rank 1 and rank 1+. Click here to book with a discount and for more information.

Location and date: Sunday 15 June 2025, 20:15 - 22:30 CET, het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Grote Zaal

Now

Theme: General

Another call for volunteers: the Concertzender is looking for enthousiastic volunteers for our promotion team!

Are you mad about music? From classical and jazz, to world music and everything in between? And do you think it is important that recordings of live music remain available to everyone? Come and help us to achieve that goal: become a member of our promotion team.

Our promotion team will first focus on a limited number of larger music events. We want to be present with a real team – so with several people – and to be recognisable as the Concertzender. The first music event that we will be attending is Wonderfeel. This year the festival is taking place in Baarn and we currently intend to be there on the afternoon of July 6, 2025.

Want to volunteer or to know more? Or do you know someone who would like to join the team? Then contact the team coordinator Claudette Paelinck via e-mail or call her on 06 19 210 265.