'At the Gala Concert, Second Prize winner Albert van Haasteren was at an advantage, with his aria from Verdi’s Don Carlo, which made decidedly more impact than First Prize winner Jean Capiaux’ renditions of Händel and Berlioz, which left one wondering why he had been awarded a First Prize and Van Haasteren only a Second prize. For those who only come to see the concert, the final results might have appeared strange.’ (W.B., ‘Internationaal Vocalistenconcours,’ Het Husigezin, October 10, 1955)

Rotterdam born bass Albert van Haasteren is no longer a familiar name in the world of Dutch Opera, and yet he had a most prospering career... in Germany! Already in the year after winning the second prize at the 1955 IVC, he accepted an engagement at the Karlsruhe Opera House. From 1963 until 1983, he was engaged in Heidelberg, where he is a household name to date. He sang there occasionally even after his retirement. The neglect that befell him in the Netherlands is largely due to his absence here, although his stature is clear from his Sarastro in the world famous 1958 Concertgebouw broadcast of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (in which he also took on the reciter's part, a spoken role). This performance was not just legendary because of Fritz Wunderlich's Tamino, and Juliane Farkas's Queen of the Night, but also for the all-star Dutch cast surrounding them. With 'all star' we refer to the likes of Maria van Dongen (Pamina), Jan Derksen (Papageno) and Nel Duval (Papagena) in the principle roles. The surprises are however to be found in the minor parts, where the first IVC winner Annette de la Bije, Lucienne Bouwman, and Anny Delorie sang the Three Ladies. To top things off, the internationally renowned soprano Elly Ameling and mezzo Cora Canne-Meijer sang the Three Boys along with Thea van der Steen. The young Bernard Haitink conducted and the recording made it to an early official LP release on the obscure The Opera Society label. Van Haasteren sang again with the Concertgebouw in 1960 for a Don Giovanni performance with Erna Spoorenberg, in which he sang Leporello. Albert van Haasteren remained in Heidelberg after his retirement and still lives there with his wife.

‘The person who revealed the deepest emotions was the soprano Annette de la Bije. One will not easily forget the way that she sang the 'Incarnatus est,' so truly beautiful, so intimate, so eloquent as her voice sounded here. [ ... ] We were msotly attrackted by the very bright, sensitive and musical soprano Annette de la Bije, who might well develop into one of our greatest singers . She sang the ‘Incarnatus est’ from the Mass in C by Mozart and an aria from Madama Butterfly by Puccini’. [ ... ] The Benelux Vocal Competition in 's Hertogenbosch was won by the youthful soprano Annette de la Bije on Wednesday. Given the competition from Belgium, this may be labeled a great success, which will certainly lead to concerts in the Benelux countries.’ (Newspaper clippings from De la Bije 's scrapbook regarding her IVC 1954 victory)

Annette de la Beije (Rotterdam, March 1, 1927 - Germany, March 17, 2014) was a private pupil of Jacoba Dresden-Dhont. She enjoyed a significant career in The Netherlands, mostly as an oratorio singer. Celebrated was her rendering of the soprano part in Bach's St.–Matthew Passion, and Haydn's The Seasons. In opera she appeared as Anna Reich in Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, as Gretchen in Die Wildschütz, as Marzelline in Fidelio, as Blondchen in Die Entührung aus dem Serail and a handful of other celebrated productions (among them Bizet's Les pêcheurs des perles, Marschner's Hans Heiling, Lortzing's Der Wildschütz, and Verdi's Don Carlo and Oberto). In 1959 she created the soprano part in Henk Bading's electronic television opera Salto Mortale. Halfway the 1960's she started accepting less contracts because she wanted to spend more time with her family, after her two daughters Cornelieke and Francina were born (1961/1963). As an immediate result, her international career in Germany, Switzerland and Austria came to a halt. Only Germany near the Dutch border, Belgium and Paris on hollydays were still within the range of her flat with sea view in Zandvoort. Her merits in Bach's St.–Matthew Passion can be enjoyed in a Phillips 45RPM recording of 'Blute nur du liebes Herz'.

In the wake of the 50 years IVC celebration in September 2014, we interviewed De la Bije exclusively, and worked with her on a full length feature biography at 401DutchDivas.nl. We had advanced to recording the conversations, working out the text and archiving her photographs, but in the middle of sorting out her recorded legacy in terms of radio recordings, she sadly passed away on March 17, 2014. We published De la Bije's recollections of her 1954 IVC Victory on our Reminiscence page. For Annette de la Bije's feature portret and the 40 minutes exclusive interview,including refelections on her IVC Jury memberships in the 1980's, many photographs and mp3's, you can visit her pages on 401DutchDivas.nl

Bach's St.–Matthew Passion 'Blute nur du liebes Herz' Annette de la Bije Philips 422 520 NE