Klaas Stok is connected to many choirs and ensembles, from amateur to professional. He is artistic director of the Nederlandse Kooracadmie, chief conductor of Consensus Vocalis and choirmaster at the Netherlands Radio Choir. For years he has been connected to the Nederlands Kamerkoor in several roles: as guest conductor, choirmaster and repetiteur. Led by him, the choir performed many concert series with choir music from the 16th to 20th century, amongst which several world premières. With the choir, he performed in Paris, Marseille, Budapest and Monte Carlo and recorded pieces by Kagel, Kancheli and Kox. His CD Tehilim and the CD with works by Kagel were both rated with a 10 by the magazine Luister.
Besides the Nederlands Kamerkoor, he conducted ensembles such as Concerto d’Amsterdam, Musica Treize and the Irisch National Chamber Choir. He is a teacher of choir conducting at the conservatory in Zwolle (NL).
Besides his work as a conductor, Klaas Stok is also an organist. He is the main organist of the famous Bader-organ in Zutphen (NL) and he won first prizes at several national and international concourses.
Leading the following workshop in EUROPA CANTAT Pécs:
The Nederlands Kamerkoor has been a world-renowned choir for over 75 years. One of their core values is to inspire contemporary composers to write music for a capella choir, to ensure an ongoing development of choral music. Because of this, masterpieces have been composed that now belong to the standard choral repertoire: Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noël by Francis Poulenc for example, and Songs of Ariel by Frank Martin. Still, the Nederlands Kamerkoor commissions numerous works from young talented composers.
Klaas Stok, connected to the Nederlands Kamerkoor for years as guest conductor en choir master, presents highlights of commissioned pieces during the choir’s concert Composing a World on April 28. This lecture will serve as an in-depth introduction to the concert and provides understanding in the way Dutch composers wrote for the Nederlands Kamerkoor in the mid-twentieth century. Klaas will highlight exceptional compositions from important Dutch composers, such as Escher, Ton de Leeuw and Heppener. They are a good example of the choir culture in The Netherlands in that period. Klaas Stok will talk about the pieces from both a historical and musical point of view.
