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Audite Nova University Chamber Choir, conducted by Felix Hirn
Featuring Hebe de Champeaux (mezzo-soprano), string players from the Nijmegen Symphony Orchestra, and John William Griffith II (piano). The Arnhem artists’ group Lokaal9 will also participate.
Audite Nova Chamber Choir Performs American Choral Music
In 2026, the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. In 1776, thirteen British colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution was drafted; its preamble begins with the famous words “We the People.” Who were the people who founded the United States, and who are the people who make up the United States today? The latter question is central to our concert, in which 16 pieces spotlight 16 contemporary Americans.
Celebration or Resistance?
The founding of the United States was commemorated on a grand scale around July 4. Given the political and social developments in the country—which have an impact around the world—is this a moment for celebration or for resistance? The U.S. midterm elections will take place on November 3. It will be a pivotal moment, because the results could alter the balance of power between President Trump and Congress.
Woodstock aan de Waal
In the week of the midterm elections, the Netherlands American Studies Association (NASA) will hold its annual international conference, on the theme “American Protest Cultures.” In the same week, cultural organizations and venues across Nijmegen will present the arts and culture program Woodstock aan de Waal, with the theme “Art in Resistance – Resistance in Art in the United States.” The program will include talks, debate, and opportunities to meet, centered on American film, popular and classical music, and more.
Program
As part of Woodstock aan de Waal, the Audite Nova Chamber Choir will present 15 highlights of American choral music centered on the theme “We the People.” The program includes spirituals, works by renowned American composers such as Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, and Philip Glass, and recent music by Ysaÿe Barnwell, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe, John William Griffith II, and others.
World Premiere
Dutch-American mezzo-soprano and former Audite Nova conductor Hebe de Champeaux will perform William Harvey’s composition On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs. In January 2026, Harvey set the prize-winning poem by American poet Renée Nicole Good to music. Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7. The piece will receive its world premiere at our concert. Hebe will be accompanied by the SON String Quintet.
Tableau
Sixteen pieces will be performed during the concert. Each piece is linked to one or two people in contemporary American public life. These 16 people represent a cross-section of American society in all its facets: majorities and minorities, those in power, their voters and challengers, and people from all walks of life. This group of 16 Americans responds to John Trumbull’s famous painting Declaration of Independence, which hangs in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The painting depicts 47 people: all white men from the political and social elite of the thirteen colonies. A historic image, but hardly a representative one.
Artists’ Group Lokaal9
The Arnhem artists’ group Lokaal9 is also contributing to this special concert. The group will present the tableau of 16 people in a painting measuring an impressive 5.5 by 3.7 meters—the same dimensions as Trumbull’s painting. The painting will remain on view at the Titus Brandsma Memorial throughout the rest of Woodstock Week (November 1–6).
Thursday, November 5, 2026 – 8:15 p.m.
Titus Brandsma Memorial – Stijn Buysstraat 11, Nijmegen (entrance via Keizer Karelplein)
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