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!
Sylvia Schlüter
Sylvia Schlüter, alt
The contralto Sylvia Schlüter, born in 1949 is a many-sided singer. She appeared at home and abroad and was regularly to hear on radio and television. On the invitation of the main oratorio societies she performed solo in many oratorios. Recently - autumn 2000 - I heard her in 's-Hertogenbosch in Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium. She appeared at the Holland Festival in a.o. Missa in die festo by Alphons Diepenbrock, completed by H.Andriessen and joined further festivals in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Canada and the United States.
The versatile repertoire of Sylvia Schlüter include works from the early baroque period until the contemporary compositions. So she co-operated a.o. at the world premiere of the cantata Alcyone by Maurice Ravel (Utrecht and Vienna) and in the first performances of the lieder cycle 'Wie' (Who) by Peter-Jan Wagemans and the lieder 'Tres Gacelas' for contralto and chamber orchestra by António Chagas Rosa.
She also performed the role of Geneviève in the lyric drama 'Pelléas et Mélisande' by Debussy in Paris and Madrid, under stage-management of the well known stage-manager Peter Brook. She was also to hear in concert performances of a.o. Jevgenj Onjegin, Mosé, La Bohème (Leoncavallo) and sang with the Nederlandse Operastichting in 1983 Eduige in Rodelinda (Händel). In this performance sang the famous mezzo-soprano Jard van Nes the role of Bertarido.
On CD (Globe) are released 22 lieder by Johannes Brahms, on which occasion she was accompanied by Rudolf Jansen. But also works by Bach, Mozart, Stamitz and Diepenbrock and work of other Dutch composers are performed by Sylvia Schlüter and released on CD.
Friedrich von Flotow, Martha: Jägerin, schlau im Sinn, VARA recording 1974
