EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Inspired by the renowned chapel choirs of the Renaissance, Pomerium revives the golden age of a cappella singing. The ensemble, featuring some of the finest singers in the country and acclaimed for its luminous sound, performs frequently in New York—at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Frick Collection, and Music Before 1800—as well as across the USA and abroad. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 06, 2008 | Hits: 482

"Mark Crayton performs on concert stages and in opera houses throughout the United States and Europe, and his extensive repertoire includes a wide variety of works. Mark Crayton created the role of the First Minstrel in The Holland Festival’s production of Peter Onnes’ opera/theatre piece Pantagruel et Gargantua. This role was specifically written for Mark Crayton. In 2003, Mark Crayton was invited by the composer Philip Glass and the Tony Award director Mary Zimmerman to sing in the world premiere performances of Glass’ opera Galileo Galilei in Chicago, New York City and London. Soon thereafter, Mr Crayton was chosen by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb to sing the role of Louis Perch in their new musical, The Visit, starring Chita Rivera, at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre; discussions are now under way for a possible New York production as well as a production in Washington, DC. The 2006-07 season began for Mark Crayton with a New York City appearance on The Phoenix Concert Series featuring new music for two countertenors and piano, with colleagues Daniel Gundlach and James Janssen. Subsequently, Mr Crayton was heard in concert with fortepianist James Janssen for Ars Musica Chicago at the DePaul University Art Museum. Later in the season, Mr Crayton made his debut with the Seattle Opera as Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare - the same opera in which Mark Crayton made his San Diego Opera debut in 2006. Highlights of this season’s appearances include a return to the Phillips Collection in a recital of Italian secular cantatas, a return to Raleigh/Durham to sing G F Handel’s Messiah at the Duke Chapel, a recital/masterclass at Butler University, Messiah with the Chicago Chorale, Carmina Burana with the Fargo-Morehead Symphony, Chichester Psalms with the Sheboygan Symphony, as well as masterclasses in London. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 31, 2008 | Hits: 493

“Franz Vitzthum received his initial musical training as a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen. In 2007 he completed his degrees at the Musikhochschule Köln as a pupil of Kai Wessel. At present he is working with Stefan Haselhoff (Basel).

In addition to his ensemble work with groups including the Weser Renaissance under Manfred Cordes and Cantus Cölln under Konrad Junghänel, Franz Vitzthum focuses his attentions on solo engagements where he has worked with the conductors Christoph Poppen, Peter Neumann or Nicholas McGegan.

Franz Vitzthum has made guest appearances at international festivals including the Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz, Oude Muziek Festival Utrecht, La Folle Journée Nantes, The Bach Festival Philadelphia (USA) and has performed with such orchestras as the Chamber Orchestra Basel Barock and The English Concert. ..“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2009 | Hits: 509

“The Countertenor Kai Wessel was born in Hamburg and studied music theory (Prof.R.Ploeger), composition (Prof.Dr.F.Döhl), and voice (Prof.U.v.Garczynski, concert examination passed with honours) at the Lübeck Academy of Music. During his Lübeck years Wessel was also an external student in the field of baroque performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (René Jacobs).
 
Wessel received numerous prizes between 1984 and 1990, including the special prize of the German Theater Society for the best interpretation of a contemporary work (Berlin, 1988) and a prize at the Musica Antiqua Competition of the Flanders Festival in Bruges. He received fellowships from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the DAAD (studying under Peter Kooj in Hilversum/Holland). Wessel has served as an assistant to René Jacobs in the production of operas by P.A.Cesti, F.Cavalli and C.W.Gluck for the International Festival Week of Early Music in Innsbruck, for the WDR Radio, and at the Hamburg State Opera.
 
As one of the leading countertenors Wessel is invited to music festivals all over the world (Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Schwetzingen, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Tokyo, San Francisco, a.o.) and to numerous opera houses (Freiburg, Basel, St.Gallen, Barcelona, Nice, Berlin a.o.) where he took part in stage-productions by Herbert Wernicke (in Theodora and Giulio Cesare by G.F.Handel, Aus Deutschland by Mauricio Kagel, Wie liegt die Stadt so wüste with the music by H.Schütz/M.Weckmann and Actus tragicus with the music by J.S.Bach), Joachim Schlömer (as Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice by Chr.W.Gluck), Claus Guth (in Schwarzerde by Klaus Huber), Peter Oskarson (in Luci mie traditrici by Salvatore Sciarrino), Gilbert Déflo (in Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi), John Dew (in Hippolyte et Aricie by Jean Philippe Rameau) a.o. He has been involved in performances, radio broadcasts, amore than sixty recordings under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe, William Christie, Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhard, Ton Koopman, Michael Schneider, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Martin Haselböck, Reinhard Goebel, Konrad Junghänel, Michael Hofstetter, Nicholas McGegan, Sigiswald Kuijken, Michel Corboz, Hans-Werner Henze, Arturo Tamayo, Hermann Max, and others.
 
Kai Wessel is teaching voice and baroque performance practice at the Superiour Highschool of Music Cologne/Germany, and regularly giving summer-classes in Germany and Austria. “

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Added on: May 09, 2009 | Hits: 532

"Charites is a trio committed to the works of early women composers and poets, bringing their music to life through bold, historically-informed performances and period gesture. The members of Charites are equally entrenched in scholarship and performance and seek to blur the lines between these two arenas. Founded in 2006, Charites has performed throughout the New York area, at venues like the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Bartholemew's Church, Columbia University, and the CUNY Graduate Center. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 06, 2008 | Hits: 542

"TACTUS, an eight-voice vocal ensemble, specializes in repertoire of the European Renaissance and is dedicated to musical scholarship and excellence in performance techniques. Performing without a conductor and usually a capella, the ensemble's work emanates from their combined skills and experience and from their intuitive connections to each other and to their passion for early music.

TACTUS has sung at the Guelph Spring Festival, Toronto's Hummingbird Centre and has been featured on CBC Radio Two's Music Around Us and Choral Concert. TACTUS was featured in Soul Music, a Vision TV documentary hosted by Howard Dyck. Artistic collaborations with Dancetheatre David Earle, the Toronto Bach Consort, Tafelmusik's Charlotte Nediger and Sergei Istomin, Arbor Oak Ensemble, the Penderecki String Quartet and NUMUS have enabled TACTUS to branch into Baroque, 19th century and contemporary repertoire. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Nov 16, 2008 | Hits: 552

"Julianne Baird, soprano, has been hailed as "one of the most extraordinary voices in the service of early music that this generation has produced. She possesses a natural musicianship which engenders singing of supreme expressive beauty." She maintains a busy concert schedule of solo recitals and performances of baroque opera and oratorio. Ms. Baird has also appeared as soloist with many major symphony orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi, the Brooklyn Philharmonic under Lukas Foss, the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and, in the 2000-2001 season, the Philadelphia Orchestra. James R. Oestreich, in his comprehensive survey of New York's seasonal performances of Handel's Messiah for the N.Y. Times, recently concluded with special praise for Julianne Baird's interpretative skills: "in that respect, Ms. Baird remains the model". " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 555

" The Renaissance Singers were founded in 1972. The choir's early reputation was based on its polished performances of Renaissance a capella literature. Today, the choir sings music from the masters of all centuries. The Renaissance Singers have also commissioned and premiered the works of leading Canadian composers. Every year, the Singers perform four Saturday and Sunday concerts in the Waterloo Region.

The choir was the first Canadian choir to sing in the fringe of The Three Choirs Festival, the oldest music festival in the world. In 1989, the choir was invited to return, becoming the first Canadian choir to sing in the main festival. The choir has been on tour four times, and has sung n Westminster Abbey, Yorkminster, and the cathedrals of Canterbury, Chichester, Ely, Guildford, Norwich, Salisbury, Wells, Winchester, St. George's Chapel, Lincoln, St. Alban's and Ripon. The highly regarded chamber choir has four recordings to its credit, with plans for more in the near future. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Nov 16, 2008 | Hits: 556

“Dominique Visse began his singing career at the age of 11 as a chorister in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. At the same time he began studying the organ and flute at the Versailles Conservatory.

Already passionate about Renaissance and Mediaeval music, in 1976 he met the grand pioneer of the countertenor voice, Alfred Deller, and became his pupil. He also worked with Nigel Rogers, René Jacobs and William Christie.

In 1978 Dominique Visse founded the Ensemble Clément Janequin with whom he has made a series of benchmark recordings of French polyphonic chansons of the 16th Century. The following year he became one of the founding members of Les Arts Florissants and edited much of the ensemble's repertoire in its early years.

Since that time Dominique Visse has become one of the most popular lyric artists in the world of Baroque opera, working with René Jacobs, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, William Christie, Alan Curtis, Nicholas McGegan, Christophe Rousset, Ivor Bolton and Robert King, in the opera houses of Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Tel-Aviv, Montpellier, Houston, Barcelona, Munich, Versailles, at the Monnaie in Brussels, at the Châtelet and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, on tour in Japan and North America, and at the Festivals of Aix en Provence, Innsbruck and Edinburgh. ..”

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 571

"Ulrike Hofbauer was born in Bavaria and studied voice and voice teaching at the Universities of Wurzburg and Salzburg, and at the ‘Schola Cantorum Basiliensis’ in Basle. The teachers who influenced her most profoundly were Sabine Schutz, Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley; further musical insights were provided by Christina Pluhar und Andrea Marcon.

Ulrike now lives in Basel and as a soloist has worked with conductors such as Christoph Hammer, Konrad Junghänel, Daniel Reuss, und Philippe Herreweghe. The soprano is a member of several vocal ensembles including the ‘Collegium Vocale Gent’, ‘Cantus Coelln’, ‘L’Arpeggiata’ and sang with the acclaimed German vocal sextett ‘Singer Pur’ for several years.

Her versatility as a singer is documented not only in recordings and live performances on the radio, but in a number of CD recordings.

Currently she is devoting much of her energies to her own baroque ensemble ‘savādi...’, with whom she won the Early Music Competition in York in 2003 and also the Van Wassenaer Concours in The Hague in 2004. (www.savadi.net).

Teaching is also an important part of her life and has taken her to, inter alia, the Universities of Bogota (Colombia), Minsk (Belarus) and the "Bayersische Theaterakademie" in Munich.

She enjoys exploring new and unusual repertoires covering different epochs and styles. Ulrike is particularly interested in the “recitar cantando” style as well as the use of dramatic theatrical techniques to heighten the emotional impact of the text and music. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 04, 2008 | Hits: 577

“As a singer and musician, Thor Ewing works with musician Anne Marie Summers in the duo Squeake’s Noyse, performing songs and music from a wide variety of historical periods on an equally wide variety of instruments (bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, harp, lyre, bone flutes, recorder, percussion etc.).  Thor also performs with the bands Misericordia and Gaïta.  Thor also works as a historical storyteller, telling tales appropriate to a variety of eras.

Research and performance are combined to produce performance sets on specific themes, such as the life of Admiral Lord Collingwood, General Wolfe, Scandinavia in British traditional music, wisdom poetry from medieval Wales and Ireland etc.  Thor Ewing is also available to lecture on subjects associated with his research.“

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Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 607

"Founded in Oslo in 1997, trio mediaeval has developed three distinct strands of repertoire: polyphonic medieval music from England and France, contemporary works and Norwegian medieval ballads and songs. The group's initial phase was inspired by intense periods of work at the Hilliard Summer Festival in England and Germany, and subsequently with Linda Hirst and John Potter. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 617

“Angela Malek received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Baylor University and her Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Indiana University. In addition to singing operatic roles in the renowned Indiana University Opera Theatre, she was the assistant to the legendary Thomas Binkley in the Early Music Institute appearing frequently as soprano soloist in the baroque operas, cantatas, oratorios and ensembles at the school. Ms. Malek attended the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland on a Rotary Scholarship from Texas, sang in baroque opera productions at the Basel Theatre and recorded for Swiss National Radio. Ms. Malek was a soloist for the Dale Warland Singers, the Ex Macchina baroque opera, the Minnesota Chorale and The Schubert Club in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. She was also a teacher at the Minnesota School for the Performing Arts and the director and founder of both the inner-city music program, Musicapolis, and the chamber opera company, Opera Millennium. Between 1999 and 2007, Ms. Malek lived in northern Germany and France performing in baroque operas and chamber music.

Since returning to the States, she has been a regular soprano soloist in San Antonio, including a recent  performance with Houston's Mercury Baroque Orchestra. This May she will appear in the Rienzi Concert Series in Houston with harpsichordist Christina Edelen. Ms. Malek is the recipient of the 2009 George Cortes Award for Classical Singing from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio.“

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Added on: Apr 18, 2010 | Hits: 732

"Mixed chamber choir Cantio antiqua Praha was establish in the end of 80's by ex-members of student choir Cantus semper vivus, which was run by Grammar school Budejovicka in Prague 4 and which was conducted by Mrs. Vera Jankovicova. In the present structure Cantio antiqua Praha performs from cca 1999.

Cantio antiqua Praha is mainly concentrate on renaissance and early baroque polyphonic music. The repertoire is build from up to octovoiced secular and sacred vocal works from Italian, French, British, German and Spanish composers. The independent part of our repertoire are Christmas songs, which represent character of this music in Bohemia and Moravia from beginning of 15th century until works of early baroque composers.

Cantio antiqua Praha's chamber cast (four sopranos, one mezzo-soprano, three altos, one tenor and one bass) enables to approach to period interpretative practise, when every voice went about perhaps only one singer or instrumentalist. Cantio antiqua Praha occasionally collaborate with instrumentalists who play recorders, lutes, guitars, stringed instruments or harpsichords. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 30, 2008 | Hits: 770

“Peter Kooij started his musical career at 6-years-old as a choir boy and sang many solo soprano-parts in concerts and recordings. He started his musical studies however as a violin student. This was followed by singing tuition from Max van Egmond at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, which led to the award of the diploma for solo performance.

He has been an active soloist in many concerts all over the world in the most important concert-halls like Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Wien, Carnegie Hall New York, Royal Albert Hall London, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Berliner and Kölner Philharmonie, Palais Garnier Paris, Suntory and Casals Hall Tokyo, where he performed with famous conductors like Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, Roger Norrington and Iwan Fisher.

His wide repertoire contains all kind of music from Schütz to Weill and he has made over 130 CDs for Philips, Sony and Virgin Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Erato, EMI and BIS. He was invited by BIS to record the complete Bach cantatas, passions and masses with the Bach Collegium Japan under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki.

Peter Kooij is the artistic director of the "Ensemble Vocal Européen". From 1991 to 2000 professor at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. From 1995 to 1998 Lehrauftrag at the Musikhochschule in Hannover. Since 2000 Professor at the Tokyo University of fine Arts and Music. From September 2005 professor at the Royal Conservorium in Den Haag. He was invited to give master classes in Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Finnland and Japan. “

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Added on: May 09, 2009 | Hits: 1023