Talented Leiden students on the stage
Leiden University has almost sixty talented students who are studying at the Royal Conservatory in parallel with their degree programme. They will be demonstrating their talents in a series of nine public concerts.
The combination of an academic programme in Leiden and an arts programme in The Hague is an initiative of the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts. It is a collaboration between the University of the Arts The Hague and Leiden University. The Leiden music students are taught by leading national and international teachers who train them to develop their talents to the full.
From this month the students will be giving a concert in Leiden's Lokhorst church on every last Thursday of the month. The concerts start at 17.00 hrs and are free, although voluntary donations would be much appreciated.
Anna Vlot
‘I am training in classical singing beside my Master's programme in Biopharmaceutical Sciences.It's a lot of work, particularly as I'm now doing an internship. I have 50 minutes of singing lessons a week and 25 minutes of choir practice, and there's a lot of practising at home. I often have to stay later at my internship to compensate for the time I devote to music lessons. I'm still not sure whether I'll go for music or science later. I always thought I wanted to be a scientist, but at those times when the science studies are harder, the musical option very tempting.'
‘In the series of concerts I sing excerpts from Edvard Grieg, Gabriel Fauré and Benjamin Britten. I don't have a real favourite among them because the pieces come from completely different genres. It's the variation that makes it so enjoyable. They're all beautiful works that you can put a lot of feeling into without having to force it.'
Friederieke Pank
‘I'm doing International Studies, and am also studying piano at the Royal Conservatory under the fantastic Ksenia Kouzmenko. I have 50 minutes of piano training every week and 90 minutes of theory. My weeks are planned so that I go to the Conservatory every morning where I play piano, and from 11 I'm studying in the University. I often have rehearsals in the evenings with friends, for example if we're working on a chamber music project.'
‘In this series of concerts I'll perform solo and also with my good friend Anna Vlot. My solo piece is a beautiful prelude by Dmitri Shostakovich. This prelude is very special for me: I'm originally from Leipzig, where the Bach festival is held every year. Shostakovich went to the festival in 1950 and he was so inspired by a performance of Bach's preludes that he decided to compose a series of preludes himself. The prelude is one of these works and when I am playing it, I feel very close to the city where I was born.'
More information
The free concerts will be held at 17.00 hrs in the Lokhorst church, Pieterskerkstraat 1 in Leiden on the following days:
Thursday 27 October 2016
Thursday 24 November 2016
Friday 25 November 2016
Thursday 26 January 2017
Thursday 23 February 2017
Thursday 30 March 2017
Thursday 20 April 2017
Thursday 18 May 2017
Thursday 29 June 2017