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The Dutch choral conductor, Wiecher Mandemaker, studied choral conducting, organ and church music at the Codarts - Rotterdam Conservatory (1987-1997) with Barend Schuurman, Ben van Oosten and Arie J. Keyzer. He attended master-classes with, among others, Uwe Gronostay and Eric Ericson.
Wiecher Mandemaker has worked as Assistant-Conductor of Groot Omroepkoor in Hilversum (September 2001-June 2002); Cantor-Organist at Goede Herderkerk Rotterdam/Schiebroek (January 1998-September 2005), and Principal Teacher of choral conducting at both Codarts in Rotterdam and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (since September 2002). In September 2005, he became cantor in the Laurenskerk and then also succeeded Barend Schuurman as Artistic Director of the Stichting Laurenscantorij (now: Laurens Vocaal), in which capacity he is the Chief Conductor of three choirs: Laurenscantorij, Laurens Collegium Rotterdam and Rotterdam Symphony Chorus. He has conducted these choirs in countless performances. He has worked as a choral conductor with conductors including Frans Brüggen, Jaap van Zweden, James Gaffigan, Arie van Beek, Ton Koopman, Jan Willem de Vriend, Pablo Heras-Casado, Harry Christophers and Cristian Măcelaru.
Wiecher Mandemaker's repertoire extends from the Renaissance to the present with an important role for the choral music of J.S. Bach. Every month he conducts a J.S. Bach cantata (Laurenscantorij Cantatediensten) and every year he leads a performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) in the historic Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. Recent highlights have been performances of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor (BWV 232) and Johannes Brahms' A German Requiem with the Residentie Orkest Den Haag. In 2014, he conducted Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov and led a performance of the Mass for Double Choirs by Frank Martin in Istanbul. In February 2015, he conducted the première of four choruses from John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer in an arrangement by Bob Zimmerman in the Main Hall of De Doelen theatre in Rotterdam. In May 2015, he conducted the Orchestra of the 18th Century in a concert with Die Schöpfung by Haydn, in which the Laurens Collegium Rotterdam also participated. A live recording of this is released on CD and DVD. Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei, which sang the Laurens Symphonic under his direction, has become an international hit on Youtube. On Youtube you can also listen to recordings of his interpretation of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor (BWV 232). Furthermore he prepared the choirs for concerts with Herbert Howells' Hymnus Paradisi, Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony, Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony and Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'arc au bûcher. The latter work was released on the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's own record label. |
