Sing together,
shine together
Thirty Amsterdammers aged fifty to seventy spend twenty weeks building towards one evening in a real theatre. The choir has the leading role, the professionals stand around them.
An initiative of Stichting Praise Valley Temple. The next large edition is set for December 2027, so we are building the foundations now: funding, partners and the choir.
What is Friendsmas?
Friendsmas is a twenty-week choir programme that leads up to a professional Christmas concert. Participants rehearse weekly with a vocal coach, a conductor and a live band, so what starts as a group of strangers stands on stage as a choir in December.
The choir is the star. The band, the front singers and the guest artists are there in support, so nobody is a spectator in their own story.
Singing together
Weekly rehearsals with people who love music and good company as much as you do.
New people
A warm group you come back to every week, and connections that last beyond December.
A real stage
Not a back room but a theatre, with professional lighting, sound and a live band behind you.
The programme is the project
Friendsmas is often read as a Christmas concert, but the evening is the finale. The real gain sits in the twenty weeks before it.
Twenty rehearsals
Singing, laughing and growing together every week. It does not feel like a class, it feels like working towards something of your own.
Five themed sessions
Short conversations about connection, mental resilience and generations. Light in tone, woven into the rehearsal.
Buddy system
You are never on your own. You get a buddy who walks the whole programme with you.
The concert
December in Amsterdam. One evening where everything comes together, with guest artists and a full house.
Album and recordings
The concert is recorded. Participants keep photos, footage and an album from their own evening.
And afterwards
The group stays together. A reunion, a listening session and referrals to activities in the neighbourhood.
Who is Friendsmas for?
The first edition is for Amsterdammers aged fifty to seventy. Whether you have sung for years or save your best numbers for the shower, you are welcome.
- For anyone who loves music and enjoys singing with others
- For people who want to meet new people
- No audition and no experience needed, just the wish to take part
- For anyone whose home is sometimes too quiet and who wants a warm group heading into Christmas
“Je hoeft geen professional te zijn. All you need is the wish to join in.”The Friendsmas team
What the evening gives you
A concert where the audience sings along, and where you know exactly who is on that stage and why.
Live music and singing along
A choir of thirty, a six-piece band, front singers and guest artists. Familiar Christmas songs alongside new arrangements.
Quiet moments and big singalongs
The evening moves between intimate and exuberant, with stories from choir members between the songs.
A good start to December
Come with friends or family. Accessible ticket prices, and part of the hall goes to Amsterdammers who cannot buy a ticket themselves.
The people behind Friendsmas
Stichting Praise Valley Temple
Friendsmas is an initiative of Stichting Praise Valley Temple, founded in 1994 in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. With Friendsmas the foundation deliberately takes an outward-facing role: giving rather than taking. Friendsmas is not a religious event, it is an invitation to the city.
Jeremiah Owusu-Ansah, artistic director
Drummer, composer and musical director. Involved in at least one theatre tour every year since 2022. He carries final responsibility for the arrangements, the show and the technical side.
- Ladies of Soul
- Typhoon
- Kenny B
- Akwasi
- Trijntje Oosterhuis
- Candy Dulfer
- Edsilia Rombley
- Koffee
The team around it
Every role has a single owner, so nobody has to guess who decides what.
- Vocal coach and conductor for vocal technique and choreography
- Project management for planning, participant care and impact measurement
- A technical crew with experience at Carré, AFAS Live and the Ziggo Dome
- Independent impact measurement using a recognised loneliness scale
We are looking for partners for December 2027
Friendsmas runs on funds, sponsors and partners across the city. What you contribute reaches thirty Amsterdammers and a hall full of audience.
Financial partners
Funds, companies and individuals who make the production possible. We provide a substantiated budget, an impact plan and a full account after the edition.
Social partners
Neighbourhood teams, care organisations and local initiatives that refer participants and distribute social tickets among people who would otherwise not come.
Support in kind
A rehearsal space, transport, catering or visibility in the city. Not every contribution is money, and they all count.
Or email info@friendsmas.nl directly. We send the project plan and the budget on request.
What participants say
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With the support of our partners
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