Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam - Kerstspel (2017)

Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam is a classical voice training programme specialising in opera, accessible to all children and young people from 4 years old who enjoy singing. Its was founded in 2005, roughly ten years ago, and immediately after the idea to perform a Nativity play on a yearly basis arose. In these performances, all students would be performing simultaneously. Ton Koopman's arrangement of Christmas songs for the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra from a few years before were the starting point, musically. The first performance of the play was accompanied by only a piano, with angels, sheep and shepherds performing and singing alongside Mary and Joseph. It proved to be an immediate success, and thus it evolved into a full evening's entertainment.

This year's performance consists of Old Dutch and Western European Christmas music, arranged and directed by Ton Koopman, especially for the Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Around 350 students from the Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam, ranging from 4 to 21 years, perform the pieces at the highest level, accompanied by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.