Camerata Trajectina, a Dutch early music ensemble, presents a unique perspective on early New York.

New York used to be New Amsterdam: a Dutch settlement on Manhattan. Its first inhabitants arrived from the Low Countries in the early seventeenth century and brought their way of life with them. Our protagonist, Jacob Steendam, was the first poet of New Amsterdam. From his house on Pearl Street, he walked the streets of the small port-town and listened to the sounds rising from the many taverns and bars: cheers and brawls, intermixed with bawdy songs. As in Old Amsterdam, weddings and parties were not complete without a rousing song, and Steendam supplied a good number of them, bearing witness to the daily life in Manhattan around 1660. In this very special program, Camerata Trajectina follows in Steendam’s footsteps and presents Dutch music that once echoed off the walls of the houses of New Amsterdam. Interspersed with anecdotes and quotes from original sources, this program resurrects the soundscape and musical culture of Dutch Manhattan.

For this program, Camerata teams up with Dr. Jaap Jacobs, an eminent historian of Dutch New York and author of many books and articles on New Amsterdam and its people. The combination of Camerata’s long experience in recreating seventeenth-century Dutch music and Jacobs’s historical expertise ensures that this concert will provide the audience with an exhilarating and unforgettable musical experience.