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The Secret of Crescendo

The Crescendo Christian Fishermen’s Choir of Urk, the Netherlands, is flourishing and growing as never before. As the largest male choir in Urk, Crescendo has its own particular place within famous Dutch choral music and is well known for its both powerful and inspirational charisma.

Development
The singing of Crescendo has sounded since September 5, 1953, when Louwe Kramer Sr. began with a group of 23 young singers, most of whom were fisherman. His son Meindert W. Kramer succeeded his father in 1955. After a very successful leadership of almost 45 years he passed the baton to his own son Louwe Kramer Jr. 
Today as the third generation of Kramer conductors, Louwe Kramer Jr. is continuing to build on what his father attained. The choir itself has developed into a powerful and famous male choir with 125 singing members, who perform in the traditional costume of their village.

Music
Both Louwe and Meindert W. Kramer have
written the majority of Crescendo’s music. Today this music is being used by many choirs in The Netherlands as well as overseas.  Well known professional musicians, Harm Hoeve and Minne Veldman, support and accompany the choir’s concerts with organ or piano.

Awards
Crescendo was awarded the prestigious Golden Tulip award in 1972 for its large contribution to spiritual choir music. Since the 1960’s Crescendo has produced a large repertoire of music which is being sold successfully both in and outside The Netherlands.

Relation with the Royal Family
Crescendo has received special Royal recognition by the Dutch Royal family for whom they have performed numerous times. In 1978 a member of the royal family handed to the choir a golden record in recognition of the great amount of Christian music it sold in both the national and international market.

Repertoire
Despite their enormous productivity, the actual core repertoire of Crescendo remains unchanged. This consists of Psalms, Hymns, spiritual songs and also national songs.  Within their home of The Netherlands they sing solely in the Dutch language, although with regular requests from outside of the country the music of Crescendo is being appreciated from North America to South Africa, and therefore incorporating other languages.

Inspiration
The strength of Crescendo lies in their singing and interpretation of simple and plain songs. Everywhere they perform is fully booked and their secret is this: they sing with inspiration.  For example, the Swiss press and audience typically say: they believe in what they sing!  The members of Crescendo sing as their hobby, with a considerable number still sailing every week on the North Sea to catch fish and witness the power of their Creator.

The secret of Crescendo lies in the combination of music, text and inspiration.

International
Since the 1980’s Crescendo has performed abroad on a regular basis. Several times they have sung in Germany and Switzerland with much appreciation.  A special concert tour occurred in 1982, when they went behind the Iron Curtain to sing in an evangelistic tour of Hungary. Since the fall of communism, they have returned to Hungary several times. Many requests from within and beyond The Netherlands continue to come their way, but since they are not full time musicians, they can only accept a small portion of the requests.

Evangelism
Besides the usual number of concerts in Holland (approximately 10 per year), Crescendo gives their time to special evangelism-concerts, for example in the city centre of Amsterdam.

The chief aim of the choir has been the same from the beginning: to spread the gospel through song, to the glory of God alone!

www.urkervisserskoor.nl