I have had French chansons in my head for as long as I can remember: on a scratchy car radio or a cassette player, in the back seat for hours on end on the way to the Vendée or Dordogne, or softly issuing from a gramophone record in my father’s study below my bedroom, probably a compilation such as Vive La France or Jean Ferrat sings Aragon.

When I started to learn the piano and got into the habit of singing along, it was obviously French chansons that I picked up by ear and sang entirely phonetically. Julien Clerc with his franglais of This Melody, and Brel with his La chanson des vieux amants. The French teachers at my secondary school put me in for the Concours de la Chanson, which I promptly (and nearly by accident) won. And all of a sudden, the path opened up for me to become a professional singer or pianist, or at any rate a musician. It led me primarily into the world of classical singing, in opera, lied and oratorio, in which I felt there was much to discover for my further development.

But the chanson was never far away. Indeed, at almost each stage of my musical development it appeared to grow with me. (...)
- Thomas Oliemans, voice & piano

 

Artistic curiosity runs in the veins of Amsterdam Sinfonietta and has resulted in numerous extraordinary projects. Under the successful title Breder Dan Klassiek [Broader Than Classical], for example, Amsterdam Sinfonietta presents classical music in combination with pop, Indian classical, rap or jazz, and has appeared with artists including Rufus Wainwright, Patrick Watson, De Dijk, Wende and Typhoon. Essential to this is the exchange of ideas and a genuine interest in each other’s repertoires and worlds.

Amsterdam Sinfonietta has a strong bond with the baritone Thomas Oliemans. In recent years he has sung classical repertoire with the orchestra. Until one evening he sang from the piano Charles Trenet’s Que reste-t-il de nos amours. An idea was born: a joint project focussing on the French chanson.

- Stephan Heber, artistic programmer