Dody Soteanto
Indonesian baritone and conductor, Dody Soetanto finished his study in Classical Singing Performance with Henny Diemer and Conducting with Rob Vermeulen at The Utrecht Conservatory, The Netherlands. He has worked with some of the finest teachers and performers in the Netherlands including Rudolf Jansen, Vincent de Kort, Richard Egarr and Ed Spanjaard.
During his stay in the Netherlands, Dody has been invited regularly to sing some concerts (St.Matthew Passion and Messiah) and several roles such as Malatesta (Don Pasquale) and Alcindoro (La Bohéme) with De Nationale Reisopera in Resident Artist Program in England, Smirnov (The Bear) and Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Dutch National Opera Academy, Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte), Il Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro) with STUDIO 32 Utrecht in Grachten Festival – Amsterdam, Crown (Porgy and Bess) with Philips Symphony Orchestra. Dody also sings as soloist and chorister with several professional choirs such as Ribattuta Musica and SWARA vocal ensemble.
As a conductor, Dody has been working and giving regular performances with several choirs and ensembles in The Netherlands. He conducted Groot Omroepkoor in their education projects (2013) performing Russian choral works. In Indonesia (2004-2009), Dody conducted and coached several known choirs that have won International Choir Competitions in Asia and Europe. Dody has been directing Leiden Chamber Choir since 2019.
Jeroen Spitteler (2016 – 2018)
Jeroen Spitteler started his musical career as a treble and soloist in the Schola Cantorum of the Cathedral of Sint Jan in ’s-Hertogenbosch, under the artistic direction of Maurice Pirenne. Following his studies in Classics at the University of Amsterdam, he chose to pursue a career in music and studied choral conducting under Daniël Reuss at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He took classes in choral and orchestra conducting with Daan Admiraal, Jan Bogaarts and others, and studied under Renaissance and Baroque specialists including Paul van Nevel and Jos van Veldhoven. He completed his studies with Sasja Hunnego as a soloist in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.
He has spent many years as a singer with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Cappella Amsterdam, in addition to performing 16th century polyphony with the specialist solo ensemble Cappella Pratensis. Since 2011 he has been coached in singing by voice specialist Paul Tripels and the well-known Dutch tenor Marcel Reijans, who guided him in the transition from tenor to baritone. During that period, he has taken on a small group of singing students, a number of whom he has prepared for entry in different conservatories of music in the Netherlands.
As choral director he covers a broad repertoire, from middle-ages and Renaissance to modern works. On his repertoire you will find works by Hildegard von Bingen and Machaut, alongside works by Ton de Leeuw and Escher. Over the years he has built significant experience performing large-scale works for chorus and orchestra, including a number of Bach compositions and recently Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem.
Besides being a guest conductor, he is director and artistic leader of Vocaal Ensemble Photonen in Amsterdam, the Midsummer Voices project choir and orchestra, and the Ensemble Hermes that was set up in 2010 with trained amateurs and young professionals to focus on old music. He has been directing the Utrechts Vocaal Ensemble since autumn 2012, and became director of the Leids Kamerkoor in March 2016.