The Voice of Liberty
Libertas Male Choir
Spring Concerts and Netherlands Tour Reflections
On April 12 and 13 2018, we were blessed with two great concerts in Smithville and Dundas with full house audiences. Responses from our audiences and our members were very positive and encouraging for both concerts and our soloists Amber Ruthart, Menze Feenstra, and Liselotte Rokyta on the pan flute.
These concerts were the lead up to our Netherlands tour "Hands Across the Ocean", which began April 25, 2018.
We had already experienced a fantastic tour in 2015, but no one could have imagined the overwhelming reception at the churches and the wonderful, amazing and inspiring people that we were blessed to have met on this trip.
Martin had organized that we were always singing with a variety of choirs and accompanists that filled our concerts with such amazing talent. Every church we visited was special in its own right and we loved singing in each and every one.
Our special thanks are in order for the many people involved with the success of this tour:
Martin Mans our, director who masterminded all these wonderful venues, the accompanists, soloists and accompanying choirs.
Het Groot Veluws Mannenkoor in Nijkerk who invited us to attend a concert on our first evening in The Netherlands.
Jos Voerman from the Vianen Concert Organization who welcomed us with the young and beautiful talented soprano Sterre van Boxtel and Carina Bosschenbroek on panflute. Jos surprised all Libertas members with a traditional Dutch rode zakdoek and a polder kaas at the end of the concert in Vianen.
Henk Riggeling, president of het Groot Veluws Mannenkoor who helped us to avoid the rain by giving members a guided tour of Utrecht, De Dom Kerk, museums, Pannenkoeken huis, and a shopping mall.
Het Christelijke Streekmannenkoor Noord-West Veluwe accompanied us in a concert in the beautiful St Joriskerk Amersfoort.
Albert de Borst and all the Urkers who provided a feast from the seas, guided tours of Urk and the waterfront, and joined us for a beautiful concert in the Bethel Kerk.
A special thank you to Cor in t Veld for assisting us in our participation once again in the special evening service in Maassluis.
Dick Boogaard and all the local sponsors and townspeople who made our Bevrijdings concert at Monument Johannes De Doper RK kerk van Mijdrecht a most memorable and emotional highlight of the tour. Our gratitude to
Peter Forsthovel who provided the beautiful speech about the Canadian banner. We were overwhelmed by the red carpet, WWII vehicles, the museum, the lunch, and a Canadian flag in the hands of everyone in the church welcoming us to this special occasion.
Peereboom Touring Cars who provided our buses and our drivers Chris and Jimmy. We much appreciated that they provided alternate routes on rainy days to show us more of the beautiful sights of The Netherlands.
Monique Meijer of Style-in-Travel, our Travel agent in the Netherlands who ensured that Libertas was received in Style:, together with the Catering service of Rob, who provided amazing roadside meal service for us at various locations.
Johan Krins, The Gouwe Stem, Martin Zonnenberg, Marjolein de Wit, Mark Brandwijk, Joyce Mans, and so many more who contributed to the success of our "Hands Across The Ocean Tour".
Our concert scheduled for Drayton this spring was cancelled due to icy road conditions. Our rescheduled August 28 concert in Drayton and our matinee concert in Holland Christian Homes on the 28th were a great success
We have been truly blessed
Frank VanBruinessen
Our goal is to celebrate in music, the freedom that we experience through our salvation in Christ, and freedom through the sacrifices of those who gave their health and lives to improve the lives of others.
Please visit our rehearsal and ticket tabs for more information
Tjitske Van Reenen Tammy Veld
(membership and general info)
905.522.0001 905.745.5609
tjitske@rogers.com rtveld96@gmail.com
Please visit our rehearsal and ticket tabs for more information
