401Concerts 1 
401Concerts 2
401Concerts 3
DutchDiva of the Month
Barbara Schilstra
Dutch lyric soprano Barbara Schilstra is Diva of the Month December 2016/January 2017 in the wake of her lead part in 401Concerts 4, in the Concert Hall of the library at Spui, The Hague, 18 december. She will sing there an array of arias and duets from Dutch operas by Cornelis Dopper, Daniël de Lange, Gerard von Brucken Fock, Emile von Brucken-Fock, Willem Landré, Jan van Gilse, Jan Brandts Buys en Richard Hageman. Schilstra's voice is marked by a silvery timbre and genuine personality. Till date the highlight of her career was a tour as Saffi in Gypsy Baron that took her from Vienna throughout Germany. The next highlight will be the December 18 concert! Who is curious after her voice is welcome to attend this coproduction with the Netherlands Music Institute. Entrance is Free!
DutchDivo of the Month
In Memoriam Wolter Willemsen
Our 401DutchOperas house pianist, the brilliant Wolter Willemsen, has died completely unexpectedly in his house on June 18. On behalf of our team, in particular also our vocal ensemble consisting of Barbara Schilstra, Hendrik Vonk, Lilian van de Zande and since recently also Hans de Vries, we wish his friends and family strength. Wolter was exceptionally gifted, he could take you to realms of sound in Dutch music that you had never believed possible. We had planned a studio recording of all the music we had been working on for the past two years: operas by Von Brucken Fock, Jan van Gilse, Jan Brandts Buys and some others. That we have to cancel this recording is a true blow to those wodnerful Dutch composers. Dear Wolter, wherever you are on the journey to the big unknown, we do not wish you a quiet journey at all, we wish you a lot of music and a Bösendörfer!
Jo van de Meent
Jo van de Meent-Walter was born on 16 July 1902 in Harlem. She followed her sing study with the famous singing teacher Cornélie van Zanten and with Eduard Lichtenstein in Amsterdam. Jo van de Meent received - in the beginning of her career - great support of the Rotterdam' conductor Eduard Flipse, just as her colleague Ankie van Wickevoort-Crommelin. She appeared regular in the 'Amsterdam Concertgebouw' and at the 'Kurhaus' in Scheveningen. She appeared regular in oratorio and she introduced the premier of 'Belsazar', a great composition for alto-solo and orchestra of the Dutch (female composer Henriëtte Bosmans under the baton of Eduard van Beinum. In February 1940 she appeared - also with the Concert Gebouw Orchestra - in a performance of Debussy's 'Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien' under Ernest Ansermet.
She also appeared in operas. Her debut at the opera-stage she made in 1935 in 'Halewijn (Willem Pijper). She appeared more as hundred times in operas as, a.o. 'Les contes d'Hoffmann' (Offenbach), Tiefland (d'Albert), Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), etc. Her last opera performance was in 1961 in Jenufa (Janacek), in the role of grandmother Buryja.
After ending her singing career as singer she devoted herself to give singing lessons. Jo van de Meent died on 10 April 1988.
She made one recording on the label Philips, 'Aus einem Totenhaus', by the Czegian composer Janacek. She sings the tiny part of ' The hussy'.
Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto: Bella figlia dell'amore , duet together with tenor Michel Gobets, VARA recording 1940
Repetition Suor Angelica: Jo van de Meent, Angela Vercelli (lain on the ground) and stage director Wolf-Dieter Ludwig
Performance of the Nederlandse Opera of 'Il trittico' with reference to the 'Puccini commemoration' 1958
