The Rotterdam Young Men’s Choir De Coolsingers currently consists of 15 men aged 17 to 33 years old. The choir was founded in October 1999 and since that time Arie Hoek has been the conductor of the choir. In addition to driving musical ambitions, friendship and social cohesion play an important role within De Coolsingers. The name of the choir is derived from the main street in Rotterdam “De Coolsingel”, with a pun on the English pronunciation of the name.

The repertory of De Coolsingers varies from Medieval to contemporary music. Classical and well-known pieces of music by for example Felix Mendelssohn and Edward Elgar are combined with contemporary music. Hayo Boerema, a promising, young Dutch composer, translated four poems by renowned Dutch poet Ida Gerhardt into music, especially for De Coolsingers. The past two years the choir has focused not only on its core business of singing a capella music, but also on larger-scale projects. For these projects, the group has worked together with professional musical ensembles, solo singers and female guest singers. In this way the choir can broaden and develop its repertory.

In December 2006, De Coolsingers performed “The Symphony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten. Earlier that year “Das Berliner Requiem” by Kurt Weill and the “Military Mass” by Buhuslav Martinu were performed. The mass was repeated in January 2007 in co-production with the Rotterdam College of Music, conducted by French based Dutch conductor Arie van Beek. At the end of June 2007 the choir sang the famous opera “Dido and Aeneas” by Henri Purcell.

De Coolsingers were also invited to participate in multiple musical and cultural events in Rotterdam. In 2008 the choir participated in local festivals. During the Rotterdam Opera Festival of 2007 and 2008 the choir sang in traveling opera performances. In the 2007 edition of the Rotterdam Opera Festival, the choir participated in a modern, contemporary opera “Spoorloos” (Lost Without a Trace) by Dutch composer Peter Jan Wagemans and, in the 2008 edition, in the opening act of Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” and the closing act of “Orfeo” by Offenbach. 

In April and May 2007 De Coolsingers made concert tours to the city of Basel, Switzerland and the Dutch Islands of Terschelling and Vlieland. Before that, the choir visited the cities of Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2002 and Dresden and Leipzig, Germany in 2004. In 2003 the choir was invited to participate in the International Choir Festival in Berlin, Germany.
In October 2008 De Coolsingers made a very successful concert tour to the U.S. visiting Baltimore, New York and Washington. For the sister city exchange program with the city of Baltimore the choir gave 11 concerts in numerous venues around the city. 

In 2009 De Coolsingers will celebrate their 10th anniversary. For this special and festive occasion, the choir is currently asking four renowned Dutch composers to compose some new pieces of music. With this new music, De Coolsingers will continue their tradition of refreshing and renewing the repertory for young male voices.

The executive committee currently consists of the following members:

Jasper Klok- secretary
Christiaan Cooiman - assessor
Matthijs Fletterman - president
Jesse Koning - assessor
Lieven Cooiman - treasurer