Plea for the Miracle — a Christmas concert: BRISK & acteur Hans Thissen

Over het evenement

Immerse yourself in the stunning architecture of Amsterdam's breathtaking De Waalse Kerk for the ultimate concert set to awake your understanding of chamber music.

BRISK brings together music for Advent and Christmas from different centuries, surprising audiences with a plea for the miracle. Much Christmas music harkens back to Gregorian hymns. In the 16th century, these became widespread as hymns within Protestant churches. They became the basis of several compositions in this concert: versions by Praetorius, Hassler, Sweelinck, Bach and Brahms. New music by Max Knigge, Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk and Izak de Dreu will also be heard. The common thread is a French Christmas song: Une jeune fillette. Actor Hans Thissen brings these musical worlds together by reading poetry about Advent and Christmas, and by making the audience think about the meaning of miracle in short played scenes. Science, factuality and sobriety mean that in our time we are far from the magic of the miracle. But the very experience of the miracle is the basis for centuries of breathtakingly beautiful Christmas music.
BRISK means alive and awake. 'The final blow to the image of bravado of the recorder,' a reviewer once wrote of BRISK. Variation in style and atmosphere, virtuosity and lightness, are the ingredients of a BRISK concert. The quartet always surrounds itself with an enormous collection of recorders. Since its founding in 1986, BRISK has given numerous concerts at venues and festivals of repute in many European countries, Bolivia, Canada and the USA. BRISK has made radio and TV recordings in the Netherlands and abroad, and can be heard on more than ten CDs highly praised by the press. With bold programming of early and contemporary music, the ensemble explores the boundaries of the repertoire. BRISK often collaborates with fellow musicians, and with artists from other disciplines such as actors, directors, lyricists and filmmakers.