Eva-Maria Westbroek brings alpha star glamour to Dutch opera gala

By Jenny Camilleri, 24 May 2015

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Reviewed at Concertgebouw: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 22 May 2015

Works by Puccini

Works by Wagner

Works by Mozart

Works by Rossini

Works by Tchaikovsky

Works by Bizet

Ed Spanjaard, Conductor

Eva-Maria Westbroek, Soprano

Frank van Aken, Tenor

Het Gelders Orkest

Francis van Broekhuizen, Soprano

Laetitia Gerards, Soprano

Tania Kross, Mezzo-soprano

Karin Strobos, Mezzo-soprano

Peter Gijsbertsen, Tenor

Martijn Sanders, Baritone

Dutch Reisopera’s winning A Little Night Music

Nicolas Nguyen, 26th March

Programming Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is quite a daring move in a country with no real tradition in musical. This production by Nederlands Reisopera shows that fortune favours the bold.

****1

Reisopera's Così fan tutte: cast shine in an uninspired staging

Nicolas Nguyen, 12th February

In the Nederlandse Reisopera's Così fan tutte, the team of young soloists and the Orkest van het Oosten conducted by Arnaud Oosterbaum give a musically rewarding performance that compensates for an unconvincing stage direction.

***11

Bold music-making in Reisopera’s austere Butterfly

Jenny Camilleri, 19th September

Annemarie Kremer is a strong-willed, dramatically voiced Butterfly in Laurence Dale’s sensitive production.

***11

Juan Diego Flórez and Pretty Yende wow Amsterdam

Nicolas Nguyen, 19th May

In a somewhat long-overdue debut at the Concertgebouw, bel canto royalty Juan Diego Flórez and rising star Pretty Yende wowed the Amsterdam public with a generous programme of bel canto music.

****1

An astonishing Napoleon re-entering history

David Pinedo, 15th June

A once-in-a-lifetime experience with a perfectly arranged score to a breathtaking film.

*****

Dvořák 1-0 Football: the Gelders Orchestra scores at the Concertgebouw

Sanne Thierens, 13th June

While people gathered near big screens at the Museum Square to see the Dutch football team play, metres along the road another crowd gathered to hear the Gelders Orchestra play Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Ninth Symphony.

***11

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Jenny Camilleri

After completing her postgraduate studies in psychology at the University of Toronto, Jenny moved to Amsterdam, where she enjoys singing in amateur choirs. She loves all genres of classical vocal music, especially nineteenth and early twentieth century Italian and German opera and art songs.