Accademia Amsterdam was founded in 1990 by oboist Onno Verschoor. It consists of musicians educated in the tradition of authentic performance practise, who regularly perform with the most famous European Baroque orchestras. The ensemble gives concerts in the Netherlands and abroad, and has recorded the successful CD “A Choice Collection of Dances”. Frequently, they set up special projects, working with chamber choirs and dance companies. Accademia Amsterdam was guest of honour at the 2006 festival in Solomeo, Italy. This Dutch-Italian resulted in a CD with chamber music of both sides from the Alps. The ensemble performs in various forms, whether as duo, ensemble or orchestra. Instrumental chamber music and Baroque cantatas to early classical string quintets.
Accademia Amsterdam is inspired by an Italian institution flourishing in the 17th and 18th centuries, where people gathered to make music and discuss wide-ranging subjects. Accademia Amsterdam follows this tradition in as much as the musicians work together to reach a clear interpretation of the music. The main aim of playing concerts is to give pleasure to the audience. This is achieved through the “Speaking Style”, which has its roots in Rhetoric. Use of Rhetoric opens up the colourful world of Affect, these days described as the world of feeling.
Accademia Amsterdam searches for adventure by organising unique projects. Together with Baroque dancer Dorothee Wortelboer, the ensemble organized a theatre show on a barge, performed in the famous Oerolfestival in the Netherlands. In 2013 J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) were played and sung(!) with chamber choir PA'dam. Accademia Amsterdam initiates a project, about George Frideric Handel's teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, which includes the execution and recording of all his rarely performed cantatas. Accademia Amsterdam can be hear in the great oratorios of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel, collaborating with renowned conductors and choirs.
Since 2010, Accademia Amsterdam organises an annual summer course for music in beautiful historic locations in Perugia (Italy). |