Metropolis Orkest

Metropolis Orkest (1970)

The Metropole Orkest (also Metropole Orchestra ) is a Dutch orchestra of light music (pop, jazz, cabaret, film music, etc.). It consists of a big band to which a full string formation has been added, making it the only existing classical radio dance orchestra in Europe.

The signature tune of the orchestra has always been the Park Lane Serenade by Dolf van der Linden .

history

The orchestra was founded as a dance and entertainment orchestra for the radio station Hilversum, which was put back into operation after the war (first appearance on November 25, 1945). The first conductor was Dolf van der Linden , who formed the orchestra into an internationally recognized ensemble by 1980. Initially the line-up consisted of 36 musicians, in addition to the typical big band line-up, strings and other woodwinds. They played regularly on radio and television, accompanied singers (traveling through) and the Eurovision Song Contest when it was held in the Netherlands. Van der Linden's successor as director was Rogier van Otterloo in 1980 , who oriented the orchestra more towards jazz, but had to take over the operetta field after the corresponding radio orchestra was dissolved. The Metropol Orchester had a double rhythm section: one for popular music and one for jazz and world music. Van Otterloo also gained increasing attention as a composer and arranger. From 1988 the orchestra was only led by guest conductors like Jerry van Rooyen .

From 1991, the composer and arranger Dick Bakker was chief conductor, who used the orchestra more diversely and geared it more towards pop. The orchestra performed with him and a. in New York , at the North Sea Jazz Festival and frequently in Amsterdam's Paradiso . The orchestra was also heard in large-scale television productions, for example a concert took place on the Acropolis with Giorgos Dalaras and Mikis Theodorakis .

Vince Mendoza has been chief conductor since 2005 , after having been guest conductor several times since 1998. He put another production focus on Brazilian music. In 2005 the orchestra celebrated its 60th anniversary with a concert in the Carré Theater in Amsterdam .

In 2013, the British Jules Buckley , co-founder of the Heritage Orchestra , became the chief conductor.

On April 8, 2015, the orchestra, under the baton of Maurice Luttikhuis, accompanied the German premiere of "Die neue Wildnis" live in Essen's Lichtburg .

Artists who have performed with the orchestra include well-known people such as Celine Dion , Joe Cocker , Dionne Warwick , Shirley Bassey , Charles Aznavour , The Supremes , Tori Amos , Within Temptation , Elvis Costello , the Dutch women Trijntje Oosterhuis (Traincha) and Greetje Kauffeld , and from the jazz area Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan , Pat Metheny , Mel Tormé , Stan Getz , Dizzy Gillespie , Clare Fischer , Bill Evans , Gregory Porter , Laura Mvula , Snarky Puppy , Jacob Collier , Robert Glasper and Randy Brecker .

Institutional anchoring

The orchestra is currently part of the Dutch Radio Music Center in Hilversum , which also includes the Philharmonic Radio Orchestra, a Chamber Philharmonic and a large music library. It is now supported by a development association ("Stichting Vrienden van het Metropole Orkest"), but since 2008 has had to generate 40% of its budget itself. The Dutch parliament plans to no longer support it in the long run and to let it go into independence. The orchestra will receive state funding at least until 2014.

function

Due to the possibilities offered by the large cast, the orchestra regularly plays for public broadcasters in the Netherlands. The Dutch film industry also requests the Metropol Orchester for productions. It is also a regular guest at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Holland Festival . For example, the German trumpeter and composer Markus Stockhausen performed with the orchestra in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as part of the Holland Festival in 2011 ; he presented two commissioned compositions for this event and two older ones from 2007.