Tenso EU projects

In the past years, Tenso has been generously supported by the EU Culture programme.

Tenso 14-18 : from poetry to music

2014-2018

Tenso’s project 14-18 from poetry to music brings alive poems from 1914-1918, one of the most turbulent periods in European history, in new choral music. We will bring to light known and unknown poems and other texts from that period, with special attention to texts originating from the Balkan and Eastern Europe. Young and established composers are commissioned to write new music for chamber choir, based on these texts. The project will result in a publication (internet and book) with poems, translations, recordings and scores, and a series of concerts and festivals all over Europe where the music will be performed.

The project runs from 2014 to 2018 and involves 13 partners from 10 European countries; Amsterdam-based Cappella Amsterdam is the coordinator of the project.

Time for Tenso

2012-2013

Singing is the most personal and at the same time the most natural way to make music; and singing together in a choir is very specific to European culture. 30 million people across the continent sing regularly in a choir – more than the number of people who play soccer. Tenso wants to cherish and nourish this common heritage.

In the project TIME for TENSO (May 2012 – December 2013), we wanted to build on the achievements of the past years, enlarge the scope of our audience, and launch new initiatives, such as the Tenso Europe Choir for young
professional singers, the Tenso label for releasing ‘forgotten’ recordings, and a campaign to bring the importance of choirs and choir music to the awareness of the general public.

The scope of our activities can be divided into four headings: repertoire, performers, public, and the choral
community.

Tenso North-South

2010-2011

The Tenso network was founded in 2003 by four renowned European professional chamber choirs from Germany, France, Latvia and the Netherlands, in order to reinforce, extend and promote professonial and amateur choir practice in Europe, to contribute to the creation of new, innovative repertoire, and to create a stronger, more visible position for choir music in the European cultural arena. The network now consists of seven members and three candidate members, and it has found a solid base for many of its activitities.

In the project Tenso NORTH+SOUTH 10+11 we aimed to intensify the existing cooperation between seven professional chamber choirs, extend it to a larger group of excellent professional chamber choirs, work closely together with amateur and semi-professional choirs, and use the acquired momentum to realize a renewed appraisal of (contemporary) chamber choir music in European culture.

In the project period, we focused especially on:

  • extending the network to the Mediterranean and Balkan area (leading up to Tenso Days in Marseille 2011)
  • opening the created internet database to others and linking it to other music databases
  • creating and distributing new repertoire for chamber choir
  • mobility for (young) singers, conductors and members of management teams

Tenso La Voix Humaine

2009-2010

The Tenso network was founded in 2005 by four renowned European professional chamber choirs from Germany,
France, Latvia and the Netherlands, in order to reinforce, extend and promote professonial and amateur choir practice in Europe and to contribute to the creation of new, innovative repertoire, that can be presented to an eager international audience.
The project Tenso 09|10 : LA VOIX HUMAINE aims to intensify the existing cooperation, extend it to a larger group of excellent professional chamber choirs, and use the acquired momentum to realize a renewed appraisal of
(contemporary) chamber choir music in European culture.
In the period May 2009 – April 2010, Tenso plans to
• collect and publicize the work done by member choirs in the creation, discovery and distribution of existing and new repertoire for chamber choir
• commission new music for chamber choir from the most outstanding living European composers
• coach young composers in writing for choirs
• organize expertise exchange on several subjects of choir management, such as cooperation with amateurs and
children and innovative multi-disciplinary projects
• organize expertise exchange for singers and conductors
• organize the fifth edition of the Tenso Days, an international choir festival in Amsterdam, October 2009, aimed at a
large and general audience of music lovers
• formulate a strategy for extending the existing network with partner choirs in other countries
• develop a business plan for Tenso 2010-2015, including a blueprint for an international marketing campaign for choral music