Please enjoy the Program Notes from the event, Camerata Trajectina Concert

ABOUT CAMERATA TRAJECTINA

The Low Countries are world-renowned for the art of the 16th and 17th centuries. Paintings often depict instruments and musicians, engaged in playing chamber music in the home or even taking a private music lesson. Camerata Trajectina performs the music as it might have sounded in these depictions.

Camerata Trajectina has made its name as the “Musical Treasury of the Netherlands.” Our programs combine popular ditties of the 17th century with works of the great Renaissance and Baroque composers, often presented against a political, literary, or artistic backdrop. For nearly 50 years, they have performed countless times at national memorials and royal visits, on radio and on television. They have made nearly 50 recordings and were awarded an Edison Klassiek prize for their recording of the Antwerp Songbook.

In 2014, Camerata Trajectina received the Visser-Neerlandia award for culture from the Algemeen-Nederlands Verbond. The jury was laudatory: “Thanks to their meticulous research and performance, Camerata Trajectina has enriched our understanding of Dutch music from the Middle Ages to the early Baroque. The ensemble brings to light a treasure-trove of previously unknown works, performed passionately and expertly, reaching a wide range of culture enthusiasts.”

“Sublimely performed, just as beautifully recorded, and scrupulously documented. This is a tightly knit ensemble that blows off the dust of centuries, presenting this music in a completely effortless performance.” – Opus Klassiek

New York was once known as New Amsterdam, a Dutch settlement on the island of Manhattan. Its first inhabitants arrived from the Low Countries in the early seventeenth century, bringing their habits and traditions.

For this program, Camerata teams up with Dr. Jaap Jacobs, an eminent historian of Dutch New York and author of many books and articles on New Amsterdam and its people. The combination of Camerata’s long experience in recreating seventeenth-century Dutch music and Jacobs’s historical expertise ensures the audience an exhilarating and unforgettable musical experience.

Performers

Nico van der Meel, tenor
Wendy Roobol, soprano
Saskia Coolen, recorder
Cassandra Luckhardt, viola da gamba
Arjen Verhage, lute