Thomas Oliemans has had French chansons in his head for as long as he can remember: on a scratchy car radio or a cassette player, in the back seat for hours on end on the way to the Vendee or Dordogne, or softly issuing from a gramophone record in his father's study. When he started to learn the piano and got into the habit of singing along, it was obviously French chansons that he picked up by ear and sang entirely phonetically. The French teachers at Oliemans's secondary school enter him in the Concours de la Chanson, which he promptly (and nearly by accident) won. And all of a sudden, the path opened up for him to become a professional singer or pianist. It led into the world of classical singing, opera, lied and oratorio, but the chanson was never far away. On Formidable!, he is joined by Amsterdam Sinfonietta for a recital of old friends.