The Counterpoints & Friends
Biography The Counterpoints & Friends
Kristen Witmer
American-Korean Soprano Kristen Witmer discovered her love for singing at age 8 and received her first musical trainings in Japan where she grew up. She now lives with her husband and three children in The Netherlands, performing as a soloist world wide.
Kristen’s engagements this season include Bach’s B-minor Mass with Philippe Herreweghe in Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Handel’s Saul with Peter Dijkstra, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Stabat Mater with Iassen Raykov, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Kay Johannsen, Handel’s Messiah tour with Johannes Leertouwer and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Masato Suzuki.
Kristen studied voice at Tokyo University of the Art where she was awarded Yomiuri New Artist Prize, Akanthas Prize and Douseikai Prize upon graduation. During her study there she won several important prizes in contests such as the Yuai International Lied Wettbewerb, Concours de Melodies Francaise et Japonaise, Japanischer Mozart Musikwettbewerb and Japanischer Schubert Musikwettbewerb. After graduation Kristen received a prestigious scholarship from The Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation and pursued her training at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where she obtained a Masters in Early Music.
Kristen sings a wide-ranging repertoire and works as soloist with renowned conductors including Philippe Herreweghe, Masaaki Suzuki, Masato Suzuki, Jos van Veldhoven, Rudolf Lutz and Joshua Rifkin. She also collaborated with established ensembles in the Early Music field such as Collegium Vocale Gent, Netherlands Bach Society, Bach Collegium Japan, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Sette Voci, Holland Baroque, Vox Luminis, La Fenice, Collegium Marianum, The Spirit of Gambo, Il Gardellino and Le Concert Lorrain,
Kristen is a regular guest at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht and the Boston Early Music Festival and has also performed in many international music festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Tbilisi Baroque Festival, International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht and Musikfest Bremen where she performed Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ” with Janine Jansen.
Recent CD releases amongst others are her solo CD Misteri Gloriosi with La Fenice (Jean Tubéry) featuring virtuosic 17th Century Venetian music, and Membra Jesu Nostri with Luthers Bach Ensemble (Tymen Jan Bronda).
The Counterpoints
After starting out as a duo in their student days at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, recorder player Thomas Triesschijn and harpsichordist Aljosja Mietus soon envisaged a larger ensemble that could expand depending on the repertoire. With the violinist Matthea de Muynck and cellist Petr Hamouz they formed The Counterpoints. The group soon had success at the York Early Music Young Artists’ Competition and the Göttingen Händel Competition, and appeared on stages such as The Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as at various prestigious Early Music and Chamber Music festivals all over Europe. In September 2019 they released their first ensemble CD, “La Querelleuse” which was highly praised in national and international press.
A highlight from the starting period of the ensemble is the production of Inspiring Bach, a cd around the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. On this disc, Thomas and Aljosja compiled pieces by composers who influenced or inspired the big master Bach, such as Telemann and Dieupart. Soon after that, the ensemble was expanded with two core members, cellist Petr Hamouz and violinist Matthea de Muynck.
All members of the ensemble work regularly with the leading period instrument orchestras and chamber music groups of the moment, such as Les Talens Lyriques, The Orchestra of the 18th Century, Collegium 1704, The Netherlands Bach Society and many others. They all pursue a promising career as soloists and chamber music players.
In the spirit of the Dutch Early Music pioneers, The Counterpoints believe in performing on authentic instruments or the best copies of instruments of the time. It is their aim to create passionate performances, inspired by the composer’s original intentions, the period instruments as well as musical intuition, musicological and historical research.
In their programming, The Counterpoints are always searching for new and refreshing ways to bring Early Music to the audiences. It is therefore not only crucial to play a beautifulconcert, but also to tell the stories behind the music. Collaborations with other artists, disciplines and institutions form an important key to presenting the music in a context that relates to the contemporary. The repertoire the Counterpoints chose for their debut cd La Querelleuse is a good example of their narrative programming. Central to the story is the innovative composer Georg Philipp Telemann who “quarrels” with different national styles of his time by mixing them altogether in the different movements of a trio sonata. In a way, he was using the concept of “crossover” avant-la-lettre! At the same time, it tells the story of the quarrels in Telemanns personal life (his marriage was a drama and would not have been out of place in a gossip magazine), summarized in the suite “La Querelleuse”.
The brand new programme Il Musicista Itinerante, premiered last February in Edinburgh (UK), centres around the story of Italian violin virtuosos who travelled to England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Scottish and Irish folk and fiddle music was a great inspiration to them, and rings through in many of their compositions. This unique programme, featuring composers such as Geminiani, Purcell, Corelli, Vivaldi, Händel, Matteis, McGibbon and Oswald, points out how refreshing and ‘folksy’ baroque music can be.
The Counterpoints’ most recent engagements this year included our debut concert in Edinburgh (UK) and a live Radio broadcast on NPO Radio 4 (the Dutch national Classical Music station) with live music and an interview, presenting La Querelleuse.
