The WSKOV choir and orchestra during a previous concert. Photo WSKOV Wageningse Studenten Koor en Orkest Vereniging (WSKOV) celebrates its 105th anniversary with anniversary concerts. The first in the series is to be held in Forum this evening and is free of charge.
Some fifty choir members and well over thirty musicians from the orchestra will be present on the ground floor or Forum this evening. They will play classical pieces such as Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Egyptian’ by Saint-Saëns, The Destroyer by Doherty and Temen Oblak by Tin.
‘We celebrate both the end of WUR’s lustrum year and the start of ours simultaneously’, says Hylke Willemsen, promotion and acquisition commissioner for WSKOV and a member of the orchestra’s second violin division. ‘WSKOV has existed almost as long as Wageningen University, 105 years. We organise this concert in collaboration with WUR, and we will offer also concerts later this year.’
Bringing down the house
‘I joined WSKOV in the fall of 2022’, Willemsen says. ‘I had been playing the violin for well over ten years, but I had never played in an orchestra before. Playing with so many people at the same time and with a choir as well really is a unique experience. The choir and the orchestra support each other. We each have our own playlist, but during a concert, we always play one piece together, and with it, we bring down the house.’
Bassoonist Carolin Ellerkamp, WSKOV chair, knew she wanted to join an orchestra during her studies and even selected a programme that could accommodate this wish. ‘I saw this university has a choir and an orchestra, which was instrumental in choosing WUR. I play the bassoon, which I always thought was a bit of an exception. However, I have discovered that there are at least seven other bassoonists in Wageningen’, she laughs.
Echoes of nature
‘Our lustrum theme ‘Echoes of nature’ is made up of two parts that link us together’, Ellerkamp clarifies. ‘We all study at WUR and have an affinity with nature in the broadest sense. Echoes refers to sounds and music, but also to looking back and forward. We have been making music together for over a century, and we want to keep doing so for a long time to come.’
WSKOV’s repertoire changes every six months. ‘During the summer concerts, we will play different pieces than we are currently playing. We currently play the pieces we have spent the last half year practising, and we are practising the new repertoire in the meantime.’
Housemates
Much practice is required to learn the music to perfection. ‘We practice alone, with the section or with the whole orchestra and choir. In smaller set-ups, it is easier to focus on your own parts because there is less distraction from the other instruments that have different musical sections’, Willemsen says.
‘Despite the fact that my instrument is rather loud, my housemates don’t have any issues with me practising at home’, says Ellerkamp. ‘I was honest about it when I applied for the room, and we have agreed that I can practice until ten pm. at the latest.’ Willemsen has similar agreements with her housemates. ‘I frequently check with my immediate neighbours whether they have a problem with me practising because our walls are very thin. They enjoy it when I play solo, while I feel it’s kind of boring; you miss the rest of the orchestra.’
Concerts:
Thursday 25 January | 20:00 hrs | Forum, Wageningen (no charge)
Friday 8 June | 20:00 hrs | Junushoff, Wageningen
Saturday 9 June | 20:00 hrs | Stevenskerk, Nijmegen
