Kortrijk's mixed voice choir 'ALTRA VOCE'

The Kortrijk-based, mixed voice choir 'Altra Voce' was founded in December 1969 in succession to 'Singhet ende Weset Vro'. Composer Herman Roelstraete was its first choirmaster. Under his able direction, not only were a good few compositions from the oratorio genre performed (including work by Bach and Handel), but the spotlight was also turned on homegrown talent. Composers such as Krafft, Tinel and Benoit got wide coverage and choral pieces by Roelstraete himself were part of the repertoire. That same course was continued on by the composer Rudi Tas who conducted the choir for a short while.

The efforts of Kortrijk's mixed voice choir to promote Flemish choral music earned it, in 1981, the Groeninge prize.

From 1982 until the end of 1997, the KMVC 'Altra Voce' was conducted by Paul Dinneweth, a teacher at several schools of music. With the works of Bach, Handel, Ryelandt, Nees, Meulemans, Saint-Saëns, Haydn, Duruflé, Fauré, Mozart, Verdi and Brahms, among others, Paul Dinneweth built up an impressive repertoire. During that period the choir made several TV and radio recordings, a number of CDs were released and it took part in exchange and guest concerts at home and abroad.

At the beginning of 1998 the baton was passed on to Sabine Haenebalcke. Partly via her contacts as a piano teacher at the Arts College in Ghent (secondary education in the arts), she founded Kalliope, a noticeably young choir, which she's still the inspiring choirmaster of. Together with Sabine Haenebalcke, Altra Voce's continuing quest is to recruit enough new members so that it can continue to specialize in the oratorio, in all its aspects.

In the short space of time that she's been choirmaster, Sabine Haenebalcke has already won her spurs. She got 'Altra Voce' ready for a spring concert in March 1998 with three performances of Beethoven's Ninth. This was followed, in early June, by a double concert that featured the 'Kalliope' and 'Altra Voce' choirs, at which the 'Fünf Gesänge' and the 'Zigeunerlieder' by J. Brahms were performed, among other pieces. In November Altra Voce performed 'Das Schicksalslied' (Song of Destiny for Chorus and Orchestra) by J. Brahms and the 'Polovtsian Dances' by Alexander Borodin (from the opera Prince Igor). In the spring of 1999 the 'Rubenscantate' by Peter Benoit and the 'Cantique du Port' (an ode to the port) by August Baeyens were performed, with shows in Brussels and in Antwerp. This concert went out 'live' on Radio 3. In the autumn of 1999, 'Requiem' by Andrew Lloyd Webber was performed in a cram-full church in Kortrijk.

The management and business interests of the choir are looked after by an Executive Board. The internal operation of the choir is handled by the Choral Council.

The objectives of our choir are:

With its musical variations, Altra Voce also adds lustre, by appointment only, to marriage services, funerals and other social occasions.  

If you're interested in that or the thought of a musical challenge appeals to you, don't hesitate and proceed, at once, to Interested?  

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