Wiecher Mandemaker
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Wiecher Mandemaker is conductor and artistic director of the Laurenscantorij, the Laurens Collegium Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus.
He teaches choral conducting at both Codarts in Rotterdam and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Mandemaker's repertoire spans from the Renaissance to the present day. The choral music of J.S. Bach plays an important role in his musical practice.
In May 2015, Mandemaker conducted the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in a concert with Haydn's Die Schöpfung, in which the Laurens Collegium Rotterdam also participated.
A live recording of this has been released on CD and DVD. Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, which the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus sang under his direction, is an international
hit on Youtube. You can also listen to recordings of his interpretation of Bach's Mass in B minor on Youtube.
In 2015, Mandemaker led the premiere of four Choruses from John Adams' Death of Klinghoff in an adaptation by Bob Zimmerman. In 2014 he conducted the opera
Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and performed in Istanbul with Frank Martin's Mass for double choir. Furthermore, English choral literature is regularly on his desk.
He prepared the choirs for concerts with Howell's Hymnus Paradisi, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Britten's Spring Symphony and Honegger's Joan of Arc au bûcher.
The latter work was released on the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's own record label.
Mandemaker studied choral conducting, organ and church music at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Barend Schuurman, Ben van Oosten and Arie J. Keyzer. He has attended masterclasses with a.o.
Uwe Gronostay and Eric Ericson. In 2005, Wiecher Mandemaker took over the artistic leadership of the Laurenscantorij Foundation from Barend Schuurman.
