Donald Hawkins

The soon-to-be-discovered English dramatic baritone Donald Hawkins started his career in computer software, moved on to specialist translating, still a most successful enterprise for him . . . and then, a few years ago, was somewhat surprised when colleagues gave him a singing lesson for his birthday.

He blossomed. Maybe he started a bit late to achieve stardom in the major operatic roles, but his progress in exceptionally varied repertoire and the expressive range he has developed are nothing short of startling.

Donald studies with German soprano Alfrun Schmid, Turkish baritone Sinan Vural and Dutch tenor Jan Willem Westerhuis. Their work is primarily in classical song, but Donald is his own man and, having discovered an innate dramatic talent with the aid of director Lucas de Man, is now focusing on theatrical performances based primarily on romantic music, from modern classical to pop, tango and especially chansons in various languages, with a major emphasis on the œuvre of Jacques Brel.

This unusual and intriguing new singer has been performing seriously in recitals and theatre shows for only two years, professionally for one. He toured the Netherlands last year in productions by Lucas de Man and has also appeared in London and rural France. A DVD is available of his musical theatre show Egoïsmus.

Wim Veenhof

The piano and accordion player Wim Veenhof is a graduate of the Hilversum and Utrecht Schools of Music in the Netherlands. He has toured the major theatres of Europe for many years as accompanist and composer for the Turkish/Dutch cabaret artist Nilgun Yerli, has an ongoing collaboration with Flemish singer-songwriter Micheline Dumonceau and enthuses aficionados throughout Europe with his jazz performances with the Caroline Lobanov quartet. As a composer he is currently achieving further success in the world of audiobooks. Like director Lucas de Man he is always on the lookout for exciting new talent, especially if still relatively unknown. This led him to propose a collaboration with Donald Hawkins, which has come to fruition in a series of passionate multilingual chanson performances at a variety of European venues.

Mark Wyman


Mark Arthur Wyman began classical piano studies at age five. In 1988 he moved to San Francisco CA to continue his musical studies, graduating from San Francisco State University (Summa cum laude), and then Mills College (Dean's List) with a Master's in Piano Performance and Literature, having studied piano with William Corbett-Jones, Erna Golabyan, Goodwin Sammel and Julian White.

Mark has a very broad musical experience, from classical to punk, from rock and pop to avant-garde, playing anything with keys or knobs, piano, organ, accordion, and many different synths. He has performed solo, and with many different groups across the entire musical spectrum.
Mark has toured around the US and all over Europe, and went to Buenos Aires to study and play tango, his main musical interest.
Mark currently lives in Amsterdam NL, performing regularly around Europe, as well as accompanying and teaching. He plays with the tango quintet Racing Club, the tango quintet Bandola zurdo, as well as working with many other singers and performers. Mark currently performs in Sound of Music at Theater De Efteling as well as other musicals. He maintains a website with upcoming performances: http://harmonk.com.