Harry van der Kamp | |
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| Born | 1947 (1947) |
| Education | Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory |
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Harry van der Kamp (born 1947 in Kampen) is a Dutch bass singer in opera and concert. Mostly active inHistorically informed performance, he founded theGesualdo Ensemble. He is also an academic voice teacher.
Born inKampen, van der Kamp studied first law and psychology inAmsterdam. Then he studied singing with Elizabeth Cooymans andMax van Egmond at theAmsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory.[1]
He has worked mainly inEarly music andBaroque, including Baroque opera of composers such asFrancesco Cavalli,Stefano Landi,Antonio Cesti,Henry Purcell,Jean-Philippe Rameau,Reinhard Keiser, andGeorge Frideric Handel. He sang with the Nederlandse Opera in Monteverdi's operasL'Orfeo andL'incoronazione di Poppea, and also inRêves d'un Marco Polo ofClaude Vivier.Bernard Holland described his appearance in 1996 as Zoroastro in Handel'sOrlando withLes Arts Florissants, conducted byWilliam Christie, in theNew York Times: "Harry van der Kamp is the only man, managing Zoroastro's bass arias with pleasing clarity and heft."[2]
He recorded severalBach cantatas and theMass in B minor withGustav Leonhardt. On a recording of Bach'sSt John Passion withSigiswald Kuijken he appeared together with his teacher Max van Egmond andChristoph Prégardien as theEvangelist. In 1996, he recorded Bach'sSt Matthew Passion withFrans Brüggen and theOrchestra of the Eighteenth Century in a live performance in the Vredenburg (castle), together withNico van der Meel (Evangelist),Kristinn Sigmundsson (Jesus),María Cristina Kiehr,Ian Bostridge, andPeter Kooy, among others.[3] He performed regularly with the choirJunge Kantorei inEberbach Abbey, in Monteverdi'sVespro della Beata Vergine in 1978, in Handel'sMessiah in 1979, in Bach'sSt. Matthew Passion in 1981 and 1985, and in hisMass in B minor in 1983.[4]
He has worked with such ensembles as theHilliard Ensemble,Musica Antiqua Köln orLes Arts Florissants. With theHuelgas Ensemble he recorded works ofMatteo da Perugia.[5]
In 1984, he founded the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam to perform madrigals of the 16th and 17th century, of composers such asCarlo Gesualdo,Emilio de' Cavalieri andScipione Lacorcia, and also music of the 20th century.
Van der Kamp and the Gesualdo Consort completedHet Sweelinck Monument, a first complete recording of the vocal works ofJan Pieterszoon Sweelinck on 17CDs in October 2010.[6] The recording was awarded the "Klassieke Muziekprijs 2010".Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was present at the commemorative event at the Oude Kerk van Amsterdam on 20 October 2010, and Van der Kamp was made aRidder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw.[7]
In 1994, Harry van der Kamp was appointed professor at theHochschule für Künste Bremen.[1] He has been teaching at the Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein.[8]
