Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
A journey around the world, featuring lieders and composers from almost all continents... except Europe.

In this programme we explore the connection between music, poetry, and nature in lied works by non-European composers. Because Art Song is abundantly and naturally present on virtually every continent, and has been for a long time. All over the world, lied singers, pianists, and composers are active. Nature is never far away in these remarkable lied works from Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. Love, grief, longing; everything finds a mirror in nature.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Roderik Blom: hetgooi@vvhl.nl

Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
A journey around the world, featuring lieders and composers from almost all continents... except Europe.

In this programme we explore the connection between music, poetry, and nature in lied works by non-European composers. Because Art Song is abundantly and naturally present on virtually every continent, and has been for a long time. All over the world, lied singers, pianists, and composers are active. Nature is never far away in these remarkable lied works from Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. Love, grief, longing; everything finds a mirror in nature.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Riekje Bakker-Bloembergen: groningen@vvhl.nl

This autumn, we’re celebrating the founding of Vrienden van het Lied in 1961 with a festive anniversary event. On Sunday 18 October, TivoliVredenburg will be buzzing with lied. From half past ten until six o’clock, all sorts of activities will take place in the beautiful Hertz Hall, the main foyer and De Punt. The theme of the anniversary is Colours! Because the lied repertoire itself has many colours, much like the human voice. And we want to provide room for diversity and inclusion. And of course, during the intervals, there is plenty of opportunity to meet one another in the large foyer and, afterwards, to raise a glass together to toast our society.

Click here to read more about the programme >

PROGRAM

10.30 - 11.15 am / Reception Performances by Utrecht Conservatory students / Foyer
11:30 – 12:15 / Let the Florid Music Praise! / Liedrecital Francis van Broekhuizen & Femke de Graaf / Hertz
12:15 – 12:30 / break
12:30 – 13:00 Winter Metamorphosis / Liedrecital Dārta Liepiņa, soprano & Enrico Clerico, piano / Master's students Lied Royal Conservatoire The Hague / Hertz
13.00 – 14.00 / lunch break / Hertz
12:30 – 13:30 / Britten Open Stage De Punt
13:30 – 14:00 / lunch break / De Punt
14:00 – 14:30 Schubert transcriptions by and featuring pianist Bas Verheijden / Hertz
14:00 – 14:30 College Tour featuring Christoph Prégardien by Henriette Feith / De Punt
14:30 – 15:00 / break
15:00 – 16:00 Masterclass by Christoph Prégardien / Hertz      
15:00 – 16:00 Britten Open Stage De Punt
16.00 - 16.30 / break
16.30 – 17.15 / Soul Prism / Liedrecital door Elenora Hu & Amy Chang / Hertz

17.15 – 18.00 / Festive drinks and meet-and-greet / Foyer

Admission feesmembers: €25.00 / non-members: €40.00 / < 30 years: €17.50

Members receive a £15.00 discount with the code they receive in the newsletter.

Click here to order your tickets >

What makes human beings?

At a time when we increasingly reflect on our impact on the world and the rise of lifelike technologies, we ask the question: What makes us human? A question that may have no answer, but does serve as a starting point for a profound programme. With plenty of lieding on themes such as our search for meaning, our relationship with nature, identity, love and dealing with mortality. In this recital, alongside well-known works such as Schumann's Liederkreis, you will also hear pieces by lesser-known composers such as Muriel Herbert and Margarete Schweikert.

But this concert is more than just a listening experience. What does it mean to you to be human? Your answer can become part of the music—perhaps your thought will be brought to life in a unique improvisation…

Sign up:
at contact person Ineke Baart by e-mail: breda@vvhl.nl

Prior to the recital by Jan-Willem Schaafsma and Phyllis Ferwerda, you will listen to the participants of the masterclass In the supporting act of...

Sign up:
for contact person Liesbeth Reijerkerk by email: denhaag@vvhl.nl

Also the masterclass on Saturday 19 September by Jan-Willem Schaafsma and Phyllis Ferwerda, which the participants in In the supporting act of ... followed you can attend. Click here for more information >

Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
A journey around the world, featuring lieders and composers from almost all continents... except Europe.

In this programme we explore the connection between music, poetry, and nature in lied works by non-European composers. Because Art Song is abundantly and naturally present on virtually every continent, and has been for a long time. All over the world, lied singers, pianists, and composers are active. Nature is never far away in these remarkable lied works from Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. Love, grief, longing; everything finds a mirror in nature.

Sign up:
by email to the contact person Addy Nieuwenhuize: zeeland@vvhl.nl

Nature and love
Together with fortepianist Ursula Dütschler, Irene Maessen will perform a varied programme on the theme of ‘nature and love’. The programme includes songs by Haydn, natural Der Einsame by Schubert, some ‘Arie Antiche’ and a new composition by Sylvia Maessen, composed especially for the duo.

Sign up:
by contacting Geessien Hutten-van Rooijen via email: veluwe@vvhl.nl

This member-to-member concert was originally planned for 28 June but was postponed due to the hot weather.

Are all those wonderful recitals by Vrienden van het Lied an inspiration for you too? At this members-for-members concert, you can! Not the professional duos of Vrienden van het Lied, but the members themselves will sing and play for each other. In some other regions of the association, these concerts have already been a great success. In Utrecht in recent years, closed workshops Liedinterpretation held, catered by Dinant Krouwel. Interest in this was always high, but there was also a demand for an Open Stage. Therefore, this year we opted for a concert where the members themselves perform some liederen as a duo (voice and piano or another instrument) in front of an audience. This could be solo singing and/or a duet.

Depending on the number of registrations (8 to 10 duos), the guideline will be about 10 minutes per duo. Would you like to participate as a singer, but do not have a pianist? Please let us know when you register. In that case, Dinant Krouwel will provide piano accompaniment.

We will then be guests at a new location: at the home of the Jansen Arends family on Wittevrouwensingel in Utrecht. This address is easy to reach by public transport and there is also a car park within walking distance.

Applications close on 15 September, indicating the repertoire to be sung. Participation will be in order of application.

And of course, listeners are always welcome too, because what is a performance without an audience? Let yourself be surprised by the talent of your fellow members and give them a well-deserved round of applause! The door will be open to you from 14:40. However, please register in advance.

Sign up:
to contact Marianne Oelers by e-mail: utrecht@vvhl.nl

What makes human beings?

At a time when we increasingly reflect on our impact on the world and the rise of lifelike technologies, we ask the question: What makes us human? A question that may have no answer, but does serve as a starting point for a profound programme. With plenty of lieding on themes such as our search for meaning, our relationship with nature, identity, love and dealing with mortality. In this recital, alongside well-known works such as Schumann's Liederkreis, you will also hear pieces by lesser-known composers such as Muriel Herbert and Margarete Schweikert.

But this concert is more than just a listening experience. What does it mean to you to be human? Your answer can become part of the music—perhaps your thought will be brought to life in a unique improvisation…

At this collaborative concert with De Korenwinde, members and young people up to and including the age of 18 have free admission; for non-members aged 19 to 26, the ticket price is €20, and from the age of 26 onwards, it is €25.

Sign up:
by email to contacts Renee ter Braake and Marjolein Berkvens: arnhem-wageningen@vvhl.nl

Are all those wonderful Vrienden van het Lied recitals an inspiration to let your own voice be heard? During this members-for-members concert, you can! Not the professional duos of Vrienden van het Lied, but the members themselves will sing and play for each other. In several other regions of the association, these concerts are already a great success. On 8 March, members of the Alkmaar region can make themselves heard around the theme of Dutch composers.

And of course, listeners are always welcome too, because what is a performance without an audience? Let yourself be surprised by the talent of your fellow members and give them a well-deserved round of applause! However, please do register in advance.

Sign up:
at contact person Hilda Wouwenaar by e-mail: alkmaar@vvhl.nl

Be not afeard
Shakespeare’s world is full of sounds and music. In ‘Be not afeard’, the listener is carried away by those magical sounds: from soothing lullabies to the screeching violin of death. Just like Caliban in *The Tempest*, who is transformed by the sounds of the island from a vicious monster into a poetic and sensitive human being, you will discover how music can enchant, move and connect.

Featuring works by Korngold, Schumann, Von Chamisso, Liszt, Vaughan Williams and Poulenc, among others.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Marleen Abbringh: eindhoven@vvhl.nl

Aurore

Experiencing the night with music; each sequence symbolises a phase. The imaginative world of lullabies, nocturnal adventures and dreams is entered. Until Aurore illuminates the sky again with her pink fingers and the veil of night gives way to dawn, the start of day.
A programme of songs by Schumann, Britten, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Messiaen and Bosmans.

Sign up:
at contact persons Jacqueline and Ben van Rooij via: zwolle@vvhl.nl

What makes human beings?

At a time when we increasingly reflect on our impact on the world and the rise of lifelike technologies, we ask the question: What makes us human? A question that may have no answer, but does serve as a starting point for a profound programme. With plenty of lieding on themes such as our search for meaning, our relationship with nature, identity, love and dealing with mortality. In this recital, alongside well-known works such as Schumann's Liederkreis, you will also hear pieces by lesser-known composers such as Muriel Herbert and Margarete Schweikert.

But this concert is more than just a listening experience. What does it mean to you to be human? Your answer can become part of the music—perhaps your thought will be brought to life in a unique improvisation…

Sign up:
at contact person Hilda Wouwenaar by e-mail: friesland@vvhl.nl

An American in Paris
Paris has been a beacon for composers looking for inspiration for centuries. It is fertile ground where cultures merge and artistic revolutions begin. For generations, American composers flocked to the ‘city of light’, attracted by poetry, avant-garde harmonies and the vibrant worlds of jazz and cabaret. They studied under legendary musicians like Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot, whose influence reached from Samuel Barber to Robert Owens.
With the programme An American in Paris Jared Michaud and Christina Koti follow that transatlantic dialogue, from Poulenc's elegant settings of Ronsard to the smoky, jazz-inspired world of Weill and Bolcom. The programme celebrates the syncopated energy of jazz and the playful subversion of cabaret that redefined musical expression, creating a rich musical heritage where French sophistication met American audacity. An ‘American in Paris’ themselves, Jared Michaud and Christina Koti will let you experience the melodies, humour and passion that continue to make Paris a muse for artists on both sides of the Atlantic.

See the whole programme or read the explanation >

Sign up:
contact person Marianne van den Heuvel via: rotterdam@vvhl.nl

Dans la forêt
This concert is a tribute to Poland, this duo's homeland. Before the interval they will perform songs by Szymanowski, Lutoslawski and Malecki, and after the interval the Douze Mélodies op. 22 by Paderewski on poems by Catulle Mendès.

Sign up:
at contact person Roderik Blom by e-mail: hetgooi@vvhl.nl

Untaming Lied – Songs Beyond Borders is a programme that consciously plays with expectations. The title uses the term ‘untaming’ here in the sense of freeing the repertoire from its conventions and opening it up beyond the boundaries of the usual canon.
All the works are by composers who have experienced discrimination in one way or another and whose works do not form part of the usual art lied repertoire. We are opening up the repertoire to voices that have historically been excluded from the canon, for example women and queer composers.
Yet this biographical similarity is not the programme’s sole theme. The common thread lies, in fact, in the diversity of the music itself. Romantic art meets chanson, humour meets melancholy, intimacy meets caricature. It is precisely through their differences that the works complement one another, thus forming a colourful programme so varied that it almost seems amusing to simply call it ‘lied’.

Sign up:
at contacts Babs and Nico Witteman by e-mail: amsterdam@vvhl.nl

Dans la forêt
This concert is a tribute to Poland, this duo's homeland. Before the interval they will perform songs by Szymanowski, Lutoslawski and Malecki, and after the interval the Douze Mélodies op. 22 by Paderewski on poems by Catulle Mendès.

Sign up:
at contact person Elsa van Willenswaard by e-mail: zutphen@vvhl.nl

Amor, Sol, Saudade - South song
Wanderlust, l'appel du large, fernweh ... they are different words and languages to express the same deep longing for travel. Spanish amor, sol and saudade refer to passion, warmth and a melancholic longing. This hot-blooded programme will take you on a journey between two worlds, past Iberian and Brazilian melodies.
Enrique Granados and Fernando Obradors show us different facets of Spanish song, romantic or folk, deeply influenced by the guitar. António Fragoso's rarely performed songs are gems of tenderness, with the characteristic Portuguese intimacy. Finally, the vibrant colours of Brazil, which shine in the songs of Ernani Braga and Heitor Villa-Lobos, complete this ‘invitation au voyage’ by Maria Portela Larisch and Jou-an Chen.

Sign up:
at contact person Mieke van Huijgevoort via: denbosch@vvhl.nl

Je bois à la joie!

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is one of the most important composers of the 20th century. With Claude Debussy, he is among the most important impressionists and is also considered a forerunner of expressionism.

2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel's birth in Ciboure, French Basque Country. To mark the occasion, this programme has been put together, consisting of five complete song cycles. Three are by Ravel himself, one by his composition teacher Gabriel Fauré and one cycle by his main student : Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Sign up:
by e-mail to contact Marianne Oelers: utrecht@vvhl.nl

Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
A journey around the world, featuring lieders and composers from almost all continents... except Europe.

In this programme we explore the connection between music, poetry, and nature in lied works by non-European composers. Because Art Song is abundantly and naturally present on virtually every continent, and has been for a long time. All over the world, lied singers, pianists, and composers are active. Nature is never far away in these remarkable lied works from Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. Love, grief, longing; everything finds a mirror in nature.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Mieke van Huijgevoort: denbosch@vvhl.nl

Where Corals Lie
In this programme, works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Wagner embrace those of Edward Elgar, the most European of British composers: the lied Rückert Lieder, the Sea Pictures and the Wesendonck Lieder. These songs not only look to the past or past youth, but also herald a fascinating future.

Sign up:
at contact person Marleen Abbringh by e-mail: eindhoven@vvhl.nl

Keroncong Anemoia
This programme is a journey in which the intertwined stories of the East and the West are embodied through Keroncong and Western art liederen. Keroncong dates back to the 1600s, when freed slaves of Portuguese culture in the Malay Peninsula were brought to Indonesia by the Dutch. The history of its development is mostly elusive, but it spread among many people from diverse cultural backgrounds living in the archipelago. Fast forward to the 1930s – still during the Dutch colonial era – and it gained a great deal of popularity in Indonesia and the Netherlands. The three Keroncong liederen that we present in this concert have as themes nature, the longing for and romanticisation of the Solo River, which resembles roots, and reminiscing about a loved one.

Sign up:
with contacts Babs and Nico Witteman by email: amsterdam@vvhl.nl

Histoires naturelles
The programme Histoires naturelles gets its name from the two works that are central to this programme: Histoires naturelles by Maurice Ravel from 1906 and the work of the same name by the French-Dutch composer Camille van Lunen from 2018. It brings together a varied selection liederen, including some liederen by female composers, all connected by a single common thread: animals.

From Jean de La Fontaine’s fables, adapted by Isabelle Aboulker, to the evocative portraits of Maurice Ravel, Johannes Brahms and Sergei Rachmaninoff, and from the 20th-century sounds of Rebecca Clarke, Olivier Messiaen, Samuel Barber and Camille van Lunen, this programme invites listeners to experience animals in all their guises: as confidants, as mirrors of human emotions, or as a source of humour and gentle satire.

In this colourful programme, we take you on a journey to a world where liederen about animals not only brings us closer to them, but also to ourselves.

Sign up:
at contact person Bertien Keijser by e-mail: nijmegen@vvhl.nl

Bist du bei mir

In the Netherlands, it is tradition to perform Bach's great passions in the run-up to Good Friday. However, this fine tradition is hardly reflected in the field of song: during Passion time, song gives way to the St Matthew Passion or St John Passion and the world of song lies silent for a few weeks. Ellen Valkenburg and Maurice Lammerts van Bueren thought it would be nice to put together a song recital focusing on the Passion period.

Sign up:
at contact person Geessien Hutten-van Rooijen via: veluwe@vvhl.nl

Mother / Nature
This programme features lied around the theme of nature, earth, origin and transience, and is a mystical song of praise to birth and death featuring, among others, the Emily Dickinson - Songs by Aaron Copland, lieder of Pfitzner and the Vier letzte Lieder von Strauss.

Sign up:
at contact person Liesbeth Reijerkerk by e-mail: denhaag@vvhl.nl

Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
A journey around the world, featuring lieders and composers from almost all continents... except Europe.

In this programme we explore the connection between music, poetry, and nature in lied works by non-European composers. Because Art Song is abundantly and naturally present on virtually every continent, and has been for a long time. All over the world, lied singers, pianists, and composers are active. Nature is never far away in these remarkable lied works from Canada, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia. Love, grief, longing; everything finds a mirror in nature.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Marianne van den Heuvel: rotterdam@vvhl.nl

War & Peace explores the multifaceted experiences of war: from the euphoria and patriotic fervour at the beginning to the horrors of loss, the inner struggle and longing for peace later. Through moving songs, the voices of people who experienced and suffered from war are brought to life. Their music speaks of pain, the loss of home and the search for hope in the darkness. A programme including works by Somervell, Eisler, Wolf, Schubert, Schumann, Britten and Weil, among others, that offers space for remembrance, empathy and quiet optimism.

Sign up:
by email to contact person Bertien Keijser: nijmegen@vvhl.nl