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!
Marijke van der Lugt
photo: Particam
Marijke van der Lugt (Maria Grin) was born on 5 January 1919 in Rotterdam as daughter of a navy officer. At first she wanted to be a teacher, but after the discovery of her singing talents, she went to The Hague to study with Mrs. Zegers van der Beyl. She debuted after World War II, still under her own name (Maria Grin), as operetta singer at the radio, sang in opera concert performances en gave concerts.
She made her debut with the Nederlandsche Opera on 2 May 1958 in the title role of Puccini's Turandot, alternate with Antoinette Tiemessen. She sang many Verdi-operas, Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Aida, Abigaille (Nabucco), but performed also roles as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni, Mozart), Brünnhilde (Walküre, Wagner), Ortrud (Lohengrin, Wagner), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni), Turandot, Elektra (Richard Strauss), Leonore (Fidelio, Beethoven) and Prokne (Philomela, Hendrik Andriessen, Holland Festival 1962). She sang also with that time Opera Forum (now Nationale Reisopera) and co-operated in the television opera Alceste (1963, T.de Leeuw).
Debuted as an operetta-singer. She appeared in the fifties at the 'Nederlandse Opera', where she sang in Verdi-operas , but also sang in roles as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Turandot, Elektra, Prokne (Philomela). She co-operated with the television-opera Alceste (1963, T.de Leeuw). Also appearances abroad, such as in London, Vienna, Zürich, Verona (as La Gioconda) and at German theatres.
photo: Algemeen Hollands Fotopersbureau
Marijke van der Lugt as Turandot and Hans Kaart as Calaf in Puccini's Turandot, De Nederlandse Opera, 1961
She appeared also regurly abroad, a.o. in London (Covent Garden), Vienna (Staats Oper), Zürich, Verona (as La Gioconda together with the tenor Carlo Bergonzi). In Germany she sang in 1965 in the Deutschen Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg the role of Isolde in Tristan und Isolde and Elektra in the same named opera of Richard Strauss. During some time she joined the Stadttheater von Münster (Westfalen). An invitation to sing in the United States she declined because her family with four children.
End seventies Marijke van der Lugt finished her international singing career and applied herself to singing education. From 1975 she lead in The Hague a private singing school with about twenty pupils.
Marijke van der Lugt died on 2 September 1989 in her hometown The Hague.
Trovatore: "Di te ... Tu vedrai" , recorded.1960
