Poulenc: Stabat Mater & Desenclos: Requiem

In the last part of his Requiem series, the Flemish Radio Choir takes on Poulenc’s iconic Stabat Mater (1950) and Alfred Desenclos’ Requiem (1963). Both are breathtaking works that keep away from the typical horrors of a requiem and instead proclaim hope. Together with the Brussels Philharmonic, the Flemish Radio Choir and its celebrated conductor Hervé Niquet draw the emotional and rhetorical essence of the music, which is decidedly French, unusually tender, and gracefully majestic.The Vlaams Radiokoor (Flemish Radio Choir) was founded in 1937 by the Belgian public broadcaster of the day. Today, the Vlaams Radiokoor is renowned for vocal music in Flanders and Europe and is counted among the top ensembles both at home and abroad. The choir works regularly with renowned instrumental ensembles from Belgium and abroad, such as the Brussels Philharmonic, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Les Siècles, the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Hervé Niquet became the choir’s chief conductor in 2011. This internationally celebrated and flamboyant conductor is key to the choir’s success. Niquet, who refers to the choir as a diamond and ranks it among the top three in Europe, works on achieving a recognisable sonority and is planning a wide range of projects, from unknown French romantic music to contemporary premieres.