EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Doulce Mémoire is synonymous, above all, with energy and team spirit, and with the delight of coming together with the common aim of taking a new look at the sacred and secular music of the Renaissance.

Doulce Mémoire is a close-knit group of instrumentalists and singers who appear regularly together at major international festivals – Innsbruck, Saintes, Bath, Ambronay and Boston, to name but a few – but also in more unusual settings, such as on the esplanade in front of the UGC cinema in the center of Paris, in a restaurant in Portugal, 4000 metres above sea level in the city of Quito in Ecuador, or on a barge (not ideal for stability!) on the lagoon at Tahiti.

Positively averse to boredom, Doulce Mémoire constantly creates new and original performances and takes up all sorts of interesting challenges, such as giving a show on a horse-drawn caravan on tour in 2000, sharing a concert with the great Uzbek singer Munnajat Yulchieva and training amateur choirs or young Indians in Bolivia.

Open to every form of art, Doulce Mémoire has worked with the musicians and dancers of the internationally recognized Han Tang Yuefu company of Taiwan, the Italian dancers of Il Ballarino, the British singers of the Cardinall’s Musick, and with Spanish dancers in an exciting show combining Renaissance music and flamenco.

The humdrum and the monotonous are shunned by Doulce Mémoire, which moves with ease from Renaissance cabaret (La Dive Bouteille) to mystical music fir Holy Week and from the Requiem for the Kings of France to commedia dell’arte in its latest show, Viva Venezia !.

Doulce Mémoire records for Naïve, K 617 and Zig Zag territories. Its recordings have received many awards and distinctions, including Diapason Record of the Year and maximum ratings from Le Monde de la Musique and Télérama." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 457

" Le Basile is a group of talented young musicians specialising in music of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries who met during their studies in the Medieval Department of the prestigious Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. The group takes its name from a piece by Solage in the Chantilly Codex (a 14th century music manuscript); le basile is French for basilisk and is also the basis for the name Basel – the group’s town of origin. The group performs throughout Europe and is a regular visitor to the Brighton Early Music Festival. Concerts are presented on copies of medieval and early Renaissance instruments and the members strive to introduce this ‘little heard’ music to audiences through innovative, informative and entertaining performances. Recent recitals and workshops in Germany, Switzerland and the UK have received excellent reviews. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 464

"Dulce Melos” was founded in 2003 by lutenist Marc Lewon (Germany), hammered-dulcimer specialist Margit Übellacker (Austria) and multi-instrumentalist Yukiko Yaita (Japan), who met while pursuing graduate studies in medieval music at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. Since then their virtuosity has earned them high-profile performances in European festivals including “Freunde Alter Musik Basel”, Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and “innovantiqua Winterthur”. They were involved in a recording of music of the Lochamer Liederbuch (published with Naxos in Jan 2008), a source contemporary with the earliest treatises mentioning the hammered dulcimer or “dulcemelos”. They regularly work with other Early Music-specialists for concert projects and CD productions, who complement the ensemble's characteristic sound with that of bowed strings: the fiddle and gamba-players Uri Smilansky (Israel/England), Elizabeth Rumsey (Australia/Switzerland), and Silvia Tecardi (Germany). “Dulce Melos” sees instrumental music of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance as a repertoire which calls for dynamic skills in both performance and composition. This they do featuring instruments such as the eschequier or chekker, dulcemelos, guiterne sounds which are little-heard in modern concerts but were precious to fifteenth-century cognoscenti in the highly refined courts of Europe. "

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 363

"Piva is inspired by the professional Waits and Court Bands of the 16th and 17th centuries and specialises in giving lively performances of popular dance music and ballads of the period.

Piva performs in period costume using a range of historically accurate instruments including shawms, bagpipes, hurdy gurdies, curtals, sackbuts, violins and guitar. Their aim is to be faithful to the music and influences of the period whilst adding their own innovative arrangements and interpretations. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 416

"What did women sing in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries?

Musica Secreta was founded in 1990 to explore this question, and we have been particularly fortunate in having the help of the foremost scholars in this exciting new field. The answer seems to be that a lot of it has been sitting for decades on library shelves disguised as madrigals or sacred music for mixed a cappella voices. All that was needed was to rediscover a performance practice that always had taken huge liberties with the printed score. ...

Having performed and recorded music specifically composed by nuns or dedicated to convents, the group now plans to look at "mainstream" polyphony from 16th-century composers (Josquin, Rore, Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, etc.) and arrange it as the nuns would have done - both accompanied and a cappella - thus giving a fascinating new historical slant to familiar repertoire. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 348

"From deeply authentic baroque to wilfully unauthentic Mascagni, Sambuca present four hundred years of music plundered from all over Europe and beyond. Peter Martin performs on guitar, baroque guitar and lute with Michael Copley on recorder, ocarina, flute and other woodwind instruments. Whether classic Handel sonatas, virtuoso Vivaldi concertos, sultry tangos by Piazzolla, exhilarating Albeniz, or lively world music from Bolivia and Macedonia, Sambuca's eclectic range of music has an immediate appeal to audiences from school children to the most serious early music specialists. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 324

"Schubert played on a quartet of rubber trout, pieces introduced in Japanese, Wagner grand opera seen through the wrong end of the telescope. Blissfully unaware of the limitations of an instrument with a range of just over an octave, the Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet take their small clay instruments through a dazzling array of improbable pieces, played with wit, musicality and occasional bursts of breathtaking speed. To add variety to the mix, the quartet also play guitar, charango and a few other surprises.

Since its debut at the Wigmore Hall, the Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet's talent has been appreciated in such prestigious venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Centre in London, and the Festival of Flanders. In 2005 the quartet appeared as the headline act at the 3rd international ocarina festival in Budrio, Italy, and in 2006/07 made six visits to Spain. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 247

"The Freiburger BarockConsort is an "extra edition" of the Freiburger Barockorchester and specialises in chamber music of the 17th and 18th centuries, with which it has gained its own parallel success.

The preference of the BarockConsort is for the viola da gamba, a strong continuo line and a delight in experimentation that repeatedly gives rise to unusual combinations, be that with musicians on stage or with New Music colleagues.

Their basic repertoire includes Bohemian-Habsburg music, virtuoso works by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer or Antonio Bertali. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 254

Le Concert Brisé or Broken Consort : this name defines an ensemble of instruments from different families. This chamber music ensemble was created by William Dongois at the beginning of the 1990’s. The various proposed programs are centered around the cornetto and touch on virtually all the repertoire for this instrument. Using musicology to gain an understanding of the spirit of this music, the ensemble aims to create a framework as favorable as possible to a natural and lively execution.

With a variable number of instrumentists and a singer from two to ten members depending on the program, Le Concert Brisé gathers musicians who have a common musical approach and a similar rapport to historical sources. This common ground constitutes one of the two reference pillars of their interpretation, the other one being the use of improvisation techniques based on jazz and traditional music.

The musicians of Le Concert Brisé have the desire to communicate to the public the pleasure they have in playing this music while taking risks by introducing improvisation whenever possible. In this way they privilege eloquence in performance above a too strict adherence to the musical scores. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 346

"Il Desiderio was founded in 1998 by Hans-Jakob Zinkenisten Bollinger."

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 339

"CAPELLA CÆSAREA was founded in 2002 by six musicians who completed their studies in historically informed performance practice in Basel, Trossingen and Würzburg.

Well-versed and stylistically aware, they have established themselves in the concert world as interpreters of music preceding the 19th century, performing on copies and original instruments of the period. They can be heard regularly in performances and recordings with internationally well known ensembles such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Köln, Musica Fiata and Concerto Palatino. In addition to this, some of the ensemble members work as accompanists at the Early Music Festival in Innsbruck, Austria, as well as accompanying and teaching at the Early Music Week and Early Music Department in the Music College in Trossingen.

The name CAPELLA CÆSAREA points to the music chapel at the imperial court of Habsburg: their members played an important part in shaping European musical life in the C17th by keeping up an animated musical exchange at the highest level. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 399

"Since its inception in 1982, Sonnerie, formerly Trio Sonnerie, has evolved into one of the most imaginative, flexible and dynamic period instrument ensembles in the country. It is directed from the violin by Monica Huggett, world-renowned for her expressive and impassioned performances.

The group's unusual versatility means it can expand from a trio of violin, viola da gamba and keyboard, into a full chamber orchestra. Recent recordings include the 2002 Gramophone award winning CD of Biber violin sonatas and the Bach Violin Concerti for Sanctury Classics, discs of Handel's Op.2 trio sonatas and organ concertos (Avie) and the Mystery sonatas by Biber (ASV). More details can be found on the discography page.

Sonnerie has performed internationally at all the major festivals and concert halls - recent highlights have included the Cheltenham, Innsbruck, Nordic Baroque, Radlovica (Slovenia), Koethen Bach and Aldeburgh festivals, as well as performances in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, York, Glasgow and at the Wigmore Hall in London. Visit the concerts database for details of future engagements. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 465

"Leading players of European orchestras such as the English Concert, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestra of Age of Enlightenment and Il Giardino Armonico have pledged time to work in this unique and remarkable international formation. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 359

"Like many good stories, the history of Tamburrini began with a happy accident, when guitarist Steve Walter discovered a vihuela - an early Spanish guitar - in his local recorder shop. This find opened up a new repertoire - the music of Renaissance Spain, blending European elegance with the fire of Moorish tradition.

Our interest in the songs of the Spanish Renaissance is two fold. Many of the songs use melodies from the folk tradition with lyrics that are simple, direct and universal. The music also provides enormous scope for improvisation and varied instrumental textures. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 280

"The Brook Street Band is an award winning specialist in Eighteenth Century repertoire that takes its name from the London street where Handel lived and composed for most of his working life in England. Its various prizes include BBC Radio 3 Young Artists' Forum and the Byrne Award, given by the Handel Institute. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 342

"Trouvère bring medieval merriment to events of all kinds all around the country with a mix of performance and hands-on experience of medieval music-making.

Our medieval merriment show features a costumed band of medieval minstrels presenting songs, music, storytelling and dance. We regularly appear at castles and historic sites around the country, and at a wide variety of private and corporate functions. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 461

"Banquo plays (mostly) folk music and early music from (mostly) all over Europe, (mostly) from about the 12th century to present day.

We started out in the summer/fall of 1998, playing primarily Irish traditional music, and wanting to explore a fusion with early music. Since then, our vision has expanded dramatically to include basically, whatever we want. :) Part of the philosophy is that we refuse to be pigeonhole-able, which would tend to restrict us to a particular tradition or time period. And we're not willing to be so restricted. All this music is too interesting to leave behind just because it doesn't "fit" in some way. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 423

"JANICULUM was founded by Jane Clark primarily to perform the unpublished music she had found in her research on The Grand Tour. It takes its name from the hill in Rome.

Jane Clark, founder of Janiculum, is well known as a harpsichord recitalist in Europe and the USA.

Her research into the music of François Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti has received international recognition. The Scarlatti CD reflects her knowledge of Spanish folk music. In 1992 she played the complete Pièces de Clavecin of François Couperin at The Bate Collection in Oxford and her research on the background to the pieces is published in the Bate Collection Handbook series.

She has given recitals and lectures extensively in the USA including The Fine Arts Museum in Boston, The Frick Collection in New York, Indiana State University at Bloomington, Southern Methodist University in Dallas and The Round Top Festival Institute in Texas. She has taught, lectured and played at summer courses including the Dartington International Summer School, Fort Bergwin, New Mexico and the Aston Magna Academy at Yale. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 26, 2008 | Hits: 347

"Carolina Pro Musica Early Music Ensemble

* Established in 1977 to promote performance of music written before 1800 * Performs with historic instruments and/or copies and voices * Uses performance styles of the period in which the music was written * Has presented a concert series in Charlotte since 1978. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 26, 2008 | Hits: 1335

"The group was organized in the spring of 1983 and are recognized as an important early music ensemble performing on period instruments.

Frances von Seggern Bach, viola da gamba and baroque cello; Adriana Zoppo, baroque violin; Anthony Brazier, baroque flute; Wm Neil Roberts, harpsichord. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 26, 2008 | Hits: 300

"Con Gioia, based in Claremont, California, presents some of the best performers concertizing on period instruments. Following its debut in 1982, the ensemble continues to enchant its audiences with outstanding concerts of well-known masterpieces and rarely performed works of the baroque and classical repertoire.

The ensemble has featured such internationally acclaimed musicians such as violinists Eduard Melkus, Monica Huggett, Chiara Banchini, Daniel Stepner, and Elizabeth Blumenstock; harpsichordist and fortepianist Preethi de Silva; flutists John Solum and Stephen Schultz; viola da gambists, Wieland Kuijken, Laura Jeppesen, and Mark Chatfield; recorder player Matthias Maute; oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz; sopranos Julianne Baird and Sharon Baker; glass harmonicist Dennis James; and harpsichordists Jennifer Paul and Robert Zappulla, among many others. In recent seasons, Con Gioia has performed concerts at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Caltech in Pasadena, and the San Diego Museum of Art. During the seasons 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, Con Gioia presented a concert series in Claremont and Los Angeles devoted to the very rare performance of all of Bach's concertos for one or more harpsichords, together with strings and winds. These extraordinary concerts were supported by Friends of Con Gioia; and generous grants from Claremont McKenna College, Scripps College, the Claremont Community Foundation, as well as a benefactress. Con Gioia's recording of several of these concertos was released in 2004 by Centaur Records and has received high critical acclaim in the USA and Europe. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 26, 2008 | Hits: 346

"Antonio Piricone (1977), is one of the most exciting Italian musician of the younger generation whose personal approach, both as a pianist and an exponent on historical keyboard instruments, is commanding increasing attention internationally. His interpretative skills, versatility, keen sense of style, technical agility and integrity to the score distinguish him both as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.

After his initials studies in Catania, Antonio Piricone has mastered his musical education attending the piano and chamber music stages of Bruno Canino, Chantal de Buchy, Andrzej Jasinsky, and most recently with Andreas Staier on historical keyboard instruments.

His achievements has lead him to performing through Europe and Japan with leading orchestras and ensembles, singers, soloists and conductors. Hes has appeared at major venues and in renowned music festivals and concert series to the great acclaim of critics and audiences alike. These include Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Dvořak Hall in Prague, Prinzregentetheater in Munich, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, De Vereeniging Concertgebouw Nijmegen & Vredenburg Muziek Centrum Utrecht in Holland, Offerta Musicale Ensemble, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Aargau Symphony Orchestra, Czech Chamber Philharmonic, to name but a few. ...

Antonio works currently in the Netherlands where he focuses on his research on the development and evolution of historical keyboard instruments and performance practice with Jacques Ogg, Patrick Ayrton, Stanley Hoogland and Bart van Oort at the Royal Conservatory on The Hague (NL), and with Andreas Staier in Cologne (D). " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2008 | Hits: 369

"The Foundation Musica da Camera Antica offers concerts' old 'music in The Hague and Voorschoten. With young talented musicians who have pledged their hearts to the historical practice. On beautiful locations and at an affordable price. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2008 | Hits: 303

"Formed in The Hague in 2004, the members of LOTUS have been working together since 2001 as students of the Royal Conservatoire.

Its repertoire consists of pieces from the 17th and 18th Centuries originally written for recorder and harpsichord or continuo and, when suitable and historically justifiable, transcriptions of works from that period originally written for other instruments.

The observation of sound stylistics and historical performance practices and a lively rendition of the music mark their presentation."

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2008 | Hits: 332

"Holland Baroque Society has combined innovative programming with a unique working style. Baroque music still takes center stage, but bridges are also being built to other traditions and arts such as Balkan music and the art of literature. The orchestra does not have a permanent director: that helps keep their ears sharp and makes the sense of ensemble both richer and more intense. For each new project, HBS invites a particular baroque specialist who has an innovative vision, one who has mastered a distinctive aspect of performance practice (such as ornamentation or improvisation), or in some other way has escaped the timeworn pathways of convention. HBS has worked for several years with some of them, including oboist Alfredo Bernardini, soprano Maria Keohane, and traverso player Alexis Kossenko; this has allowed ample room for growth and development. In recent years, the orchestra has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Michael Maniaci, Matthew Halls, Stephen Stubbs, Milos Valent, Jan Rokyta, Stefano Montanari, Paolo Pandolfo, Veronika Skuplik, and the actress Cox Habbema. HBS has undertaken projects with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Cappella Amsterdam, and organizes six of its own concert series throughout the Netherlands. Hbs has also been invited to perform at renowned early music festivals at home and abroad. Educational projects such as ‘Kids only-concerts’ allow HBS to introduce thousands of children and young people to baroque music every year. In this way, too, Holland Baroque Society plays a dynamic role in society." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 27, 2008 | Hits: 346