It has been almost 10 years since viola player Odile Torenbeek accidentally discovered singer Charlotte Haesen on the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam. Odile and Charlotte then decided to create a chanson programme with the string quartet as a basis. Renowned arrangers like Paul Prenen, Wijnand van Klaveren, Mascha van Nieuwkerk and Oene van Geel were involved, who knew how to 'drape' the chanson around Charlotte's vocal timbre in a special way. Café des Chansons then developed: Charlotte Haesen plus four musicians from the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Three albums later, Charlotte Haesen's voice and the strings of the Tobalita String Quartet still take you on a moving journey through time.

For this special Christmas concert, the Café des Chansons will perform a magnificent repertoire of the most beautiful French-language winter classics by such personalities as Barbara, Brel, Gainsbourg, Brassens and Piaf. These chansons are about the joy and love that human connection brings. Café des Chansons invites us to dare to be real people this Christmas.