From the Baltic to the Mediterranean: A Choral Exchange

Alternative Stage Founding Donor

Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera

The female choral ensemble CHÓRES and the National Women's Youth Choir of the Netherlands, two youthful choirs from the opposite ends of Europe, come together on stage to present a unique concert at the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage in the SNFCC on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, at 20.30. Titled "From the Baltic to the Mediterranean: A Choral Exchange," this concert highlights the power of the voice as an agent of cultural expression and dialogue. Its diverse programme runs through Scandinavia, Central Europe, and the Baltic, featuring music ranging from Verdi and Reger to Vasks and Tormis, culminating in modern adaptations of Greek and Balkan traditional songs.

This concert represents the culmination of an intensive artistic exchange that took place through a series of workshops and open rehearsals guided by Irene Verburg, László Norbert Nemes, and Eirini Patsea. By blending different vocal traditions, techniques, and aesthetics, the two choirs create a musical landscape where the strictness of the North meets the expressiveness of the South on a shared sound canvas. Despite the geographic distance between them, the two choirs share a common core of artistic perception and pedagogical philosophy. Since its formation by Marina Satti in 2018, the female choral ensemble CHÓRES has served as an artistic hub for women and teenagers, focusing on fostering the holistic development of the performing arts and empowering artistic expression through collective effort. Meanwhile, the National Women's Youth Choir of the Netherlands, established in 1996, emphasizes developing its members’ artistic independence and cultural awareness, providing high-quality musical training in an environment that encourages collaboration and creative dialogue. Both ensembles experiment with the interaction between traditional and contemporary elements, aiming not only for technical excellence but also to shape mindful young artists with social responsibility and cultural awareness. Both also rank among the most vital artistic forces in their respective countries, active at the intersection of music and social action.

The concert programme includes pieces by the following composers: Pēteris Vasks, Giuseppe Verdi, Giannis Giannakos, Jürgen Golle, Petros Klampanis, Suzanne Konings, Miklós Kocsár, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Martha Mavroidi, Alkis Baltas, Margarita Papadimitriou, Max Reger, Christos Samaras, Veljo Tormis, and Angelos Triantafyllou. The female choral ensemble CHÓRES is conducted by Eirini Patsea, and the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands is led by László Norbert Nemes and Irene Verbug.

Workshops and open rehearsals
As part of the collaboration between the female choral ensemble CHÓRES and the National Women's Youth Choir of the Netherlands, a two-day event featuring intensive workshops and open rehearsals will be held in the Rehearsal Hall of the GNO Chorus at the SNFCC on 8 and 9 November 2025. This high-class workshop programme intends to enhance the bonds between these two vibrant European choral communities. The workshops are aimed at conductors, choristers, music educators, and music students, providing a dynamic setting for the exchange of knowledge and artistic experience.

A few words about the National Women's Youth Choir of the Netherlands
The National Women’s Youth Choir of the Netherlands was founded in 1996 and consists of young women aged 16 to 30. The choir frequently performs music from the 1500s to the present, on professional stages at home and abroad. Singers are vocally coached by Irene Verburg. The National Women’s Youth Choir regularly sings in professional concert series such as the Saturday Matinee, the AVROTROS Friday Concert in TivoliVredenburg and the Sunday Morning Concert with, among others, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Internationally, the choir has performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Venice Baroque Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker. The choir also made concert trips to Japan, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Denmark. Between 2006 and 2015, the National Women’s Youth Choir sang for eight years in a row during the National Commemoration on May 4 in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. Music was composed especially for this occasion by Roel van Oosten, Theo Loevendie, Theo Verbey, Iván Fischer and Matthias Kadar, among others. Several CDs were released. Last April, the National Women’s Youth Choir received the Young Talent Award from the Concertgebouw. The National Women’s Youth Choir is one of the four National Choirs organised by Vocal Talent Netherlands. The mission is to scout and encourage young vocal talent to flourish. The choir is led by Irene Verburg and László Nemes. The foundation’s patron is Sir Simon Rattle.

A few words about the female choral ensemble CHÓRES
CHÓRES is an artistic incubator created by Marina Satti in order to cultivate its members’ skills in music, dance and acting as well as to develop artists with a broad education and social awareness. CHÓRES experiment on the interconnection of diverse aesthetic and cultural elements, transcending the boundaries of geography or age and utilising various means of expression. More than 150 women aged between 15 and 60 regularly practise the whole spectrum of performance arts. Their eclectic repertoire includes traditional Greek songs, songs from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, original compositions and folksong arrangements by numerous Greek and international composers, several of which were written expressly for the ensemble. CHÓRES regularly collaborate with the Greek National Opera as a resident ensemble, having taken part in many concerts, theatre productions, social and educational activities, and choral festivals in Greece and abroad.

Brief biographical notes
Irene Verburg
Executive and Artistic Director of the Vocal Talent Netherlands Foundation – National Choirs since 2025. Together with László Norbert Nemes, she is also responsible for the artistic direction of the four National Choirs and the soloist classes. As a singer, she has performed in operas, oratorios, and song recitals, with a repertoire ranging from Bach to Schoenberg. Together with the choir and individual singers, Verburg works on developing a flexible and distinctive sound, attuned to the concert repertoire and the artistic vision of conductors and composers such as Jörg Widmann, Lera Auerbach and Unsuk Chin. Through her work, Irene Verburg combines her experience with a clear mission: to guide young singers toward musical and artistic autonomy, both as soloists and as ensemble performers. She is regularly invited to give workshops and masterclasses, including in 2025 in Antwerp, Athens, Budapest, Tallinn, and Beijing.

László Norbert Nemes
He has been Artistic Leader of the National Youth Choirs of the Netherlands since September 2023. At the beginning of his career, László’s artistic activities were connected to the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir; between 2014 and 2025, he served as artistic director of the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir, the artist-in-residence choral ensemble of the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest for several concert seasons. In addition to his artistic work, László Nemes has a significant university teaching career. Currently, he teaches choral conducting as a main subject and Kodály-based ear training at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. László has conducted and taught across Europe and overseas.

Eirini Patsea
She studied classical singing with Christina Yannakopoulou and choral conducting with Michalis Patseas at the Greek Kodály Conservatory and Institute. She is a graduate of the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and of the postgraduate programme in Singing Pedagogy of the Hungarian Kodály Institute. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Arts as a specialist in Kodály Music Pedagogy from the Liszt Academy’s Kodály Institute in Hungary. She is teaching music pedagogy according to the Kodály method, musicianship training and choral conducting in the Greek Kodály Conservatory as well as in the Athenaeum Conservatoire, in which she also acts as the General Director. She is in a permanent collaboration with the CHÓRES female choral ensemble (artistic direction: Marina Satti) as principal conductor, and she has conducted the ensemble in multiple concerts as well as in many studio and video recordings. Since 2024, she has been the artistic director and conductor of the Chordae female chamber choir.