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Musicians
| Conductor |
Gerard Strootman |
| Piano |
Ineke Bos-Strootman |
| Organ |
Henk Strootman |
| Vocals |
Liesbeth Blankespoor-Strootman |
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Eric Strootman |
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| Strings orchestra“Battuta” |
Giovanna De Prisco, viool |
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Nicoline Jansen, cello |
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Henriette Hoebeek, viool |
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Merle Hunnego, viool |
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Saskia Vuik, viool |
| Hobo |
Marlous Pruszner |
| Flute |
Roel Weevers |
| Percussion |
Alex Hollemans |
| Bass |
Chris Meijer |
| Arrangements |
Chris Meijer, Eric and Gerard Strootman, Piet Vliegenthart |
Gerard Strootman
As 11th child of the baker-family H. Strootman Gerard (1939) grew op with the tones of an old Dutch home-organ. As auto-didact he learned to play Psalms and Hymns and soon he became the church-organ player. After moving to the Rotterdam area he could play in Rotterdam during the church services, and he also founded a new man's choir. In 1967 he took the initiative to form a choir especially for the occasion of a golden wedding of an aunt and uncle. The cousins called themselves the "Van Gemeren Family Choir". The choir stayed even after the wedding, and Gerard is still the conductor of this unique choir.
Gerard is also a very good song-writer, he wrote several songs, but the most known is the song called in Dutch "Stil in die nacht". This beautyful christmas-song is often seen as the new "Silent Night". Recently also a German and English version has appeared, called in Englisch "One Silent Night". If you want to know more about this song you can contact the publiser, mentioned in "Contacts".
Liesbeth Blankespoor-Strootman
From the age of 11 Liesbeth sings already the solo-vocals for the choir. When she became 17 she took singing-lessons from Joke de Vin. She has a wide variety of repertoire, and on many CD's she has appeared with her beautyful voice.
Henk Strootman
Already from his young years Henk was dedicated to the organ. He has had lessons for some years but he studied a lot on his own. He has been church organ player for many years, and already from the first years of the choir he is the organ player for the family choir. Henk has released his own organ-DVD, recorded in the famous Sint Laurenskerk in Rotterdam.
Ineke Bos-Strootman
For many years Piet Vliegenthart was playing the piano with the choir. Unfortunately he got ill last year and in March 2008 he passed away on the age of 57 years. We are happy that another cousin, Ineke Bos-Strootman, could take over the piano from Piet. Ineke is conductor and piano player for many choirs in the center of the Netherlands and you will hear she is a gifted piano player.
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