Don KosakenChor Russland - Chief-Conductor

Marcel "Nicolajevich" Verhoeff
Chief-Conductor

Marcel Verhoeff

Born in 1956, Marcel Nicolajevich Verhoeff received his first piano lessons at age six from his father. After completing his high-school education, Verhoeff entered the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1975 to study vocal arts first under the guidance of Herman Woltman, and later, under Aafje Heynis.

Successfully completing the program requirements at the Royal Conservatory, Verhoeff continued his studies at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels under Louis Devos. Outside of this formal education, Verhoeff has studied choir direction under Jan Eelkema, and orchestra direction under Fernand Terby, Kenneth Montgommery, Antoni Ross-Marba and Anton Kersjes, who is currently Verhoeff's coach.

In 1975 Verhoeff conducted his first choir. Nine years later he became conductor of a choir specialized in traditional Russian liturgical and folk-music. At the invitation of both the Russian and Dutch governments, Verhoeff went to the former Soviet Union as a visiting scholar. As a result of these journeys, Verhoeff was the invited to direct the Great Russian Academic State Choir Alexander Yurlov Capella in 1990 on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Russian composer Piotr Tchaikovsky's birth. The collaboration of this choir and Verhoeff was continued with a successful concert tour through the Netherlands. Guest directions with, among others, the Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg resulted from these very successful performances in Russia. In 1992 Verhoeff was appointed conductor of the Royal Breda's Male Choir; one year later he was appointed chief conductor of the Male Voices of Bulgaria in Sofia. In October 1993 Verhoeff was appointed officer of the Cossack regiment in the town of Krasnodar in southern Russia. He was later appointed chief-conductor of the Choir of the Don Cossacks of Russia. Verhoeff is also well kown for the tours and recordings with these ensembles that he has arranged with Vladimir Chibaev.

Since 1997 Verhoeff has been associated with both the Romanian State Opera in Cluj-Napoca, and the State Opera of Moldavia. In June 2000 Verhoeff conducted the State Opera of Wroclaw in Poland to celebrate the 1000-year history of this city, performing among other works, Die Krönungsmesse by Mozart. In September 2000 and October 2001 Verhoeff was a guest conductor with the State Philharmonic Orchestra in Lasi, Romania, where he conducted an opera gala evening roundly greeted with great acclaim. As a result of the large open-air concert “Midsummer Night Concert” in the scope of 750 years Breda, performed with the Royal Breda's Male Choir, the Philharmonic Choir from Wroclaw, a number of internationally known soloists, and the Royal Netherlands Military Band, Verhoeff was invited to be a guest conductor by the Royal Netherlands Military Band.

Marcel Verhoeff receives an applause for his Don Cossacks

Marcel Verhoeff receives an applause for his Don Cossacks

Verhoeff has been busy in many other activities as well. He has given particularly successful concerts with the Royal Netherlands Military Band—in September 2002 in honor of the 200-year anniversary of the Foreign State Department of the Russian Federation, he and his Don Cossacks were invited by the Foreign State Department to arrange a large concert in Moscow. Following that, Verhoeff and this group continued to Turkey to conduct the program The Soul of Russia at the International Music Festival of Mersini, Turkey. From there, Verhoeff left for Rome to conduct Mozart's Krönungsmesse in the Vatican (St. Peter), with choir, soloists, and orchestra.

Plans for the near future include large international projects which Verhoeff will take upon himself. Marcel Verhoeff impressively performed his interpretation of the Russian songs during a special concert at the White House in Moscow.