Each year, the 4 and 5 May Committee of Wageningen invites an orchestra or a choir to perform at the memorial service which takes place after the remembrance ceremony. This honour falls upon WSKOV this year. ‘We played once on 4 May and that was a very special occasion. So we are happy to be asked again.’ The musical students will play three pieces specially picked for the occasion. Marjon: ‘These are very solemn numbers which will enable people to calmly reflect and remember. Nothing controversial.’ The Grote Kerk is a very good location, adds Marjon. ‘Its acoustics are excellent.’ Normally, WSKOV gives two concerts a year: a Christmas concert in December and a spring concert in May. The memorial concert is something ‘extra’. So the society had to be practical in its choice of suitable pieces. ‘We rehearse a new repertoire every six months. That takes a great deal of time. To have an entirely new repertoire for each of the three concerts would be impossible, I think.’ Those unable to be at the memorial concert will therefore have a second chance to enjoy some of the 4 May pieces during the spring concert on 31 May and 1 June.
Solemn music at memorial service
The WSKOV student choir and orchestra will play during the memorial service on 4 May in the Grote Kerk, the church on Wageningen's market square. 'This is exceptional,' says the society's president Marjon Hendriks.