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Iassen Raykov, conductor

Iassen Raykov was born in Varna (Bulgaria) on the Black Sea. In his native country he studied piano at the State Conservatory in Sofia. In 1996 he came to the Netherlands where he continued his music education at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam (choir conducting) and ArtEZ Conservatory in Enschede (orchestral conducting).
In 1997, during his studies, he founded Vocal Ensemble La Colombe in order to further develop himself as a musician and conductor.

In the years that followed, Raykov has conducted a wide range of choirs. Nowadays, his focus is mainly on the large works for choir and orchestra, which he performs with the ensembles under his direction. Raykov is currently conductor of the Philips Choir in Eindhoven and of oratorio choirs in Zwolle, Enschede and Bad Bentheim (D). He is also artistic director of Vocal Ensemble La Colombe, where he mainly performs a capella and early music.

Under the direction of Iassen Raykov, the Canteklaer Chamber Choir won first prize at the Church Music Competition in Frenswegen (D) in 2015. Raykov is affiliated with the Academia Musica in Enschede as a teacher of choral conducting.

His conducting style has been described in the press as ‘sometimes subdued and then again flamboyant’, with which he ‘controls his singers in a literally enchanting way’, with discipline, concentration and perfection.

Mark van Platen, accompanist

Mark van Platen graduated in choir conducting, piano and organ at the Tilburg Conservatory with Cees Rotteveel, Ton Demmers and Maurice Pirenne. In 1992 he obtained the orchestral conducting diploma at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Ed Spanjaard.

Van Platen is a piano, organ and theory teacher and accompanist for soloists and choirs, conductor of various choirs and concert organist. Van Platen plays continuo in the St. Matthew Passion every year. He has been giving lectures on this masterpiece for a few years now.

He also works as a composer. In 2004, he received the Golden Calf for the best film music for the film ‘Kees de jongen’ during the Utrecht Film Festival.

Under the direction of André van Duren, Mark composed the music for seven cinema and TV productions. He also composed and arranged for various music theatre productions.

Mark also composes for instrumental and vocal ensembles such as: Vocal Ensemble The Gentlemen Singers from the Czech Republic, the Schola in Haarlem, Utrecht and Den Bosch, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Groot Omroepkoor and the Netherlands Student Choir. In 2015, van Platen performed his composition for organ ‘After visiting Rothko’ on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as a repetiteur at the Philips’ Philharmonic Choir in Eindhoven. This composition was also performed in Groningen during the concert “De geluid van Rothko”.

Mark composed the piece ‘C’est déjá du passé’ for double choir and two baritone soloists on a text by the Romanian-French philosopher Emil Cioran, commissioned by the Groot Omroepkoor conducted by Gijs Leenaars. The performance was in Tivoli/Vredenburg and could be heard live via NPO-4.

Van Platen worked several times as a guest teacher/ arranger/ composer/ accompanist and pianist in final exam productions by students at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

Interview with Mark van Platen about the St. Matthew Passion