King of Katoren 1
start: from February 2027 / various dates
School project for groups 5 to 8 primary schools in Zeist and surrounding areas. Workshops at school with a festive conclusion in the Great Hall during the festival week. Registration is possible up to and including Wednesday 30 September 2026.
From Friday 14 to Saturday 22 May 2027, the eleventh edition of Internationaal Lied Festival Zeist will take place with the theme Liberty, equality, fraternity. In this school project, storyteller Eric Borrias brings the wonderful story King of Katoren tot leven written by Jan Terlouw. Matthijs Overmars, musician, composed the projectlied, Mary Heylema wrote the text. We invite you to participate with pupils from years 5, 6, 7 and/or 8 in this lied primary school class project.
The aim is to stimulate and develop pupils' joy and talent for singing by learning the projectliederen with all participating schools and working towards a special performance. Because singing together is the basis of musical development. From late February 2027, the pupils will receive singing lessons at school to learn the liederen. On Friday morning 21 May, the festive presentation will take place in the Main Hall of the Evangelical Brotherhood. An unforgettable experience!
King of Katoren
On the night that the jolly king of Katoren dies, a little boy is born: Stach. But on that same night he also loses his father and mother. Therefore, he is brought up by his Uncle Gervaas, an old servant of the king and just as good-natured as the old king himself. Seventeen years later, Stach has grown into a cheerful, helpful boy with a great sense of justice. But Katoren is a land without a king where all that time the sour ministers have been able to have things all their own way. The people have become gloomy and afraid there. Stach wants to put an end to that: he is going to be the next king of Katoren! The ministers are not going to let that happen without a fight. They devise seven increasingly difficult tasks that Stach must perform before he is allowed to become king. Naturally, they hope he will give up, but Stach perseveres because it is high time for more cheerfulness. Will Stach succeed in becoming the new king of Katoren?
The musical basis of this project is the poem King of Katoren written by Mary Heylema and set to music by musician Matthijs Overmars. Eric Borrias tells the story King of Katoren And the school classes sing the projectlied and the liederen and canons that fit the various scenes of this wonderful story written by Jan Terlouw.
The project concludes with a festive performance at Friday morning 21st May in the Great Hall on Zusterplein in Zeist, where the students sing the liederen led by choir director Roel Vogel, with Matthijs Overmars on piano and storyteller Eric Borrias. A class from the Zeist Rudolf Steiner School plays the lyre under the direction of Lea Zantinge. The audience consists of (grand)parents, interested parties and festival-goers. Admission is free.
The school's group teacher and/or music teacher studies thelied project with the pupils King of Katoren in as well as a number of other liederen and canons from the project. Each school will receive the following lessons and materials for the participating groups:
Don't have a regular teacher or music teacher who can provide singing lessons at school? It is also possible to have the singing lessons provided by an enthusiastic singing teacher from Internationaal Lied Festival Zeist. Singing teachers Lea Zantinge or Joëlle Ocheng will then provide five singing lessons at your school in the period February-April 2027:
In the period between singing lessons, the classroom teacher continues practising with the whole class so that the pupils can sing the liederen well during the festive performance. Naturally, you will also receive the materials and support described above.
sign up
up to and including 30 September 2026
placement
14 September to 9 October 2026
Scheduling extra singing lessons by a singing teacher (optional)
early February 2027
start learning projectliedeaching at one's own school
from February 2027
all singing lessons by singing teacher Lea Zantinge or Joëlle Ocheng (optional)
February – April 2027
rehearsal at own school with choir conductor Roel Vogel and pianist Matthijs Overmars
period from Monday 10 May to Thursday 20 May 2027 inclusive
dress rehearsal
Large Moravian church hall 9.00am – 10.15am
Friday 21 May 2027
performance
Great Hall EBG 11.00 - 12.00 hrs.
Friday 21 May 2027
Participation in the school project costs €225 per school. The costs including five extra singing lessons by singing teacher Lea Zantinge or Joelle Ocheng amount to €395 per school. If multiple groups from a school participate and the singing lessons for two or more groups need to be scheduled separately for each, an additional €225 per extra group will be charged. Parents and other interested parties can visit the final performance free of charge. One (grand)parent of each pupil can attend the performance.
Registration is possible until Wednesday 30 September 2026 by sending an email to educatie@ilfz.nl. State in your application how many pupils you wish to take part. There is space for a maximum of five schools. Placement is in order of receipt. In the period from Monday 14 September to Friday 9 October 2026 we will contact you regarding the placement.