About
The bass baritone Bas Kuijlenburg (1962) studied social sciences, school music and ultimately solo singing at the Utrecht Conservatory.
After his exam in 1992, he continued his lessons with, among others, the Dutch bass Pieter van den Berg. In 2013, still working on his singing skills, Bas reached a semi-final place in the "Artopera" competition at the Frankfurt am Main Opera.
Bas is a welcome soloist for concert and oratorio choirs. He has performed many times in Bach's cantatas and passions, both in the basarias and in the Christ parties. Other frequently performed works are Mendelssohn’s Elias, Ein Deutsches Requiem from Brahms. The baritone solos in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana also belong to his regular repertoire.
Highlights were the gripping The Wounddresser by John Adams with the UMA Chamber Orchestra and Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death in Kees Olthuis' adaptation for the Amstel Strijkers Ensemble.
In addition to concertante performances, music theater and opera have had an indispensable part in his work from the start of his career. Bas De Kuijlenburg has been performing regularly at De Nederlandse Opera for more than 20 years in the choir and in smaller roles.
He was also Kajaphas in Joop van den Ende’s Dutch version of Jesus Christ Superstar. In 2009 he played Abendwind in Lotte de Beer’s hilarious version of Offenbach’s Hauptling Abendwind, with which she won the Ton Lutz prize for beginning theater makers. In 2010 Bas toured with Baroque Opera Amsterdam in the Purcell Gala show and in The Sluwe Vosje by Leoš Janáček at Opera Animous. In concert he sang among others the party of Giacomo in Verdi’s little known opera Giovanna d’Arco. In 2015 he played the role of Il Conte di Luna in a compact theater version of Il Trovatore with "Opera Armida" and in the spring of 2017 Bas sang the role of Zaccaria in Nabucco at Opera Festa in Leiden.
Other opera roles included Agamemnon in Iphigenie and Aulide - Gluck, Pietro in la Muette de Portci - Auber, Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory - Rossini and Silvio in I Pagliacci - Léoncavallo.