The Longest Night

Performed by Chamber Choir Ilmatar
Conducted by Imre Ploeg
Featuring Ibrahim Kevo on vocals

Saturday, December 21, 8:15 PM
German Evangelical Community, Bleijenburg 3B, The Hague

Tickets:https://www.koortickets.nl/ticketshop.php?ids=342

In The Longest Night, Chamber Choir Ilmatar celebrates the rebirth of light during the winter solstice. With concerts on December 13 and 14 (St. Lucia’s Day), and December 20 and 21 (midwinter), the choir sings of hope for the coming spring and the return of light. The program features music from Western, Northern, and Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East, in collaboration with the Armenian singer Ibrahim Kevo.

The performance journeys with the theme of light’s rebirth—from quiet, serene beginnings to a jubilant conclusion. The repertoire ranges from mystical 16th-century French sounds to modern Norwegian folk music, and from ancient folk songs from Romania, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey to contemporary compositions by Silvestrov, Cecilia McDowall, and Ola Gjeilo. These musical pieces reflect various spiritual traditions, cultures, and rituals, all unfolding in the stillness of the long winter night as light emerges.

This concert offers the audience a moment of reflection during the darkest time of the year through a musical ritual. It evokes a longing for Christmas, and the light is literally kindled during the performance—a celebration of the passing of the longest night.

Concert Dates:

• Saturday, December 14, 8:15 PM
  Mennonite Community, Oudegracht 270, Utrecht
• Sunday, December 15, 3:30 PM
  German Evangelical Community, Bleijenburg 3B, The Hague
• Friday, December 20, 8:15 PM
  Oude of Pelgrimvaders Kerk Aelbrechtskolk 22
• 3024 RE Rotterdam
  In collaboration with members of the New European Ensemble
• Saturday, December 21, 8:15 PM
  German Evangelical Community, Bleijenburg 3B, The Hague

Program Highlights:

• Francis Poulenc: Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noël
• Traditional Romanian: Sculați, gazde, nu dormiți
• Traditional Czech: Byla cesta
• Valentin Silvestrov: Spy, Isuse
• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
• Juris Karlsons: Gaisma
• Johannes Brahms: O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf
• Ben Parry: Lighten our Darkness
• Cecilia McDowall: O Oriens
• Ola Gjeilo: Serenity (O Magnum Mysterium)
• William Byrd: O Magnum Mysterium
• Ørjan Matre: Mitt Hjerte alltid vanker
• Four Kurdish, Assyrian, Yazidi, and Armenian songs about light and birth, were arranged by Nareg Abajian.

Ibrahim Kevo (Syria/ Germany) like no other, this Syrian-Armenian singer and multi-instrumentalist represents the multi-faceted musical culture of Mesopotamia. He has performed solo recitals and concerts in the Elbphilharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, as well as concerts and recordings with the NDR Bigband and many other international ensembles.