GESUALDO CONSORT AMSTERDAM | HARRY VAN DER KAMP

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (c.1561-1613) is the composer after whom the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, the madrigal ensemble founded by Harry van der Kamp in the 1980s, is named. This Neapolitan nobleman is the composer of experimental works in which he constantly explored new expressive means. Through rhythmic and especially harmonic innovations he attained an extraordinarily high level of personal expression. Gesualdo stands on the threshold between the old musical style (prima prattica) and the new style (seconda prattica), a clear transition in music history that occurred around 1600. A Janus-like figure, he commands a view of what happened in the past and at the same time looks ahead to the future, thereby inspiring many composers right up to the present.

The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam aims to achieve this special expressivity in its programmes and also in its performances. The whole madrigal repertoire of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries belongs to the repertoire of the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, but lots of attention is also given to the other genres. Where possible connections are made with the music of later centuries. In addition, several composers have dedicated works to the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam.

The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam has appeared at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Musikfest Bremen (among other works, Brahms’s Zigeunerlieder with the Roby Lakatos Zigeunerensemble), Dollard Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Bach-Fest Leipzig and many other festivals in Europe.

Audiences are stirred by the concerts of the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam and experience them as an enrichment of their musical knowledge and consciousness. The press described the concert of “Musica vulcanica” during the Utrecht Early Music Festival in 2006 as the finest concert in the festival’s 25-year history.

The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam’s strategy for making CDs is just as exciting. A lot of emphasis is placed on repertoire that has not been accessible on CD before. Thus the world première recording of the complete Lamentations and Responsories by the Roman composer Emilio de’ Cavalieri (c.1550-1602) has been issued, and the third madrigal book of Scipione Lacorcia forms the centre of the CD Musica vulcanica(fl. 1590-1620), acclaimed throughout the world (and nominated for an Edison prize in 2007). The CD recording of Gesualdo’s first three madrigal books was described by Gramophoneas a “landmark” in Gesualdo discography. A world premiere of works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and J.S. Bach won the Echo Klassik award in 2006.

The present recording of the complete works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (a 23 CD/Book edition by the Spanish label GLOSSA, also fits with this vision. This important oeuvre has never been made completely available on CD until now.

October 2010 this so called Sweelinck Monument was presented to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at the Old Church of Amsterdam, Sweelinck’s working place during his whole life. On that occasion Harry van der Kamp was appointed Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion for his exceptional achievements on behalf of the Sweelinck Monument.

The start of the project (The Secular Works) was already awarded the Edison Award 2009 and the full series of The Sweelinck Monument and was given a nomination for the Edison 2011 in the category of Documentary Recordings. The French magazine Diapason singled out the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam for praise. The singers won the Diapason d’or découverte for the international edition of Sweelinck’s complete vocal works: Secular works,Psalms and Cantiones Sacrae.

The Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam was awarded the VSCD-prize 2010 in the category ‘Best Performance of a Solo Ensemble’ (The Sweelinck Monument).

The internationally renowned bass Harry van der Kampis an alumnus of the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam. His teachers were Alfred Deller, Pierre Bernac, Max van Egmond and Herman Woltman. He was one of the founding members of the internationally known Cappella Amsterdam directed by Jan Boeke. After that he was a member of the Netherlands Chamber Choir for 20 years (1974-94) and as its artistic adviser (1980-87) he introduced much new repertoire and many new conductors.With his own Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam he has appeared in Europe and America with revolutionary works from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.

As a world-renowned bass soloist, Van der Kamp has appeared on many international concert podia from New York to Peking with repertoire from 1300 to the present. He has appeared in operas from Peri, Monteverdi to Vivier, Knaifel and others, in Requiems from De la Rue toVerdi and Lamentations from Tallis to Stravinsky. Numerous bass monologues and solo cantatas have been issued on many CD labels. Many of his approximately 120 CD recordings have received prizes. He was nominated for a Grammy award in 2008 for his performance in Lully’s Thesée. As a conductor he has directed projects with Kapel van de Lage Landen, Cappella Amsterdam and the Netherlands Chamber Choir

1986-1994 Harry van der Kamp taught singing at the Academy for Early Music Bremen (Germany). From 1994 he holds a Singing Professorshipat the University of the ArtsBremen. He has been a visiting professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (1997-98) and is regularly active in master classes (e.g. Royal Conservatoire at The Hague, Summer Academy at Neuburg an der Donau, Mozarteum at Salzburg) and on juries (e.g. the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition Leipzig and Mendelssohn Competition Berlin).