EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Harmonia Baroque Players was established to perform the rich and plentiful small ensemble repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque period, playing not only the popular works, but also the lesser-known masterpieces of this era. We are also deeply committed to providing affordable, high quality performances, thus making the enjoyment of live music concerts available to a wide audience which might not be able to afford higher priced events. Ticket prices are kept very low, but anyone who cannot afford even that will be admitted for free. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 10, 2008 | Hits: 280

"Pro Musica Antiqua Oslo was formed in 1969. Using period instruments and performing in an historically informed style, they make medieval and renaissance music come to life in spontaneous and thrilling performances. PMA has toured in Scandinavia and Germany (Musikfestival Schleswig-Holstein, Festival for medieval music in Montalbane), and has recorded two CDs: "Valravnen", renaissance music from Denmark-Norway was well recieved by the press in 1995. "Cantio", church and school songs from Piae Cantiones (1999 - Simax classics) was called "the most successful recording of medieval music ever from a Norwegian ensemble".

Hans Olav Gorset, the director of the ensemble, co-founded the original PMA, Oslo, and teaches flute, recorder, and performance practice at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. He also performs regularly as a soloist and in other groups, has made hundreds of radio programs about early music for the Norwegian radio, builds historical instruments, and for more than 20 years he taught students from all over the world at the Ringve Museum International Summer Course for Early Music. His research into the popular music of Denmark-Norway in the 17th and 18th century has been fruitful: The CD "For Citizens and Peasants", Norwegian popular music from 18th century manuscripts, was nominated to the Norwegian Gramophone Prize for 1990 (Spellemannsprisen). His solo recording of the flute music of the French composer Pierre Philidor (1681-1731) has received excellent reviews in the international music periodicals.

PRO MUSICA ANTIQUA, OSLO is a flexible group, from three to 7 musicians and singers. For certain projects they also invite choirs and local performers to join them. For the most part they are 2 singers and 3-5 instrumentalists. The current line-up is Marit Isaksen Solstrand, soprano and Staale Ytterli, baritone, Gisela Attinger and Elizabeth Gaver, fiddles and rebec, Vegard Lund, lutes and Hans Olav Gorset, flutes and recorders. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 12, 2008 | Hits: 281

" The vocal group „Schola Cantorum Riga” was founded in 1995 as a unique ensemble focused on authentic interpretation of ancient music, especially Gregorian chants. It has developed into a group with a varied and wide repertory. One of its main professional goals is to perform music at a high artistic and professional level, which is reflected in great many concerts in Latvia and abroad, as well as in regular recordings. Nowadays „Schola Cantorum Riga” mainly performs medieval music, but also turns to interpretation of compositions of contemporary Latvian composers.

The singers of the group are professional musicians or music students who all have one thing in common – their passion for ancient music and desire to perform it following the latest trends in the field of authentic interpretation of ancient music. There is a special interest in performing the Gregorian chants and other medieval music. The group performs a Gregorian choral building it on interpretation references of Neumatic Notations, as well as the latest research in the field of semiology. The programs are mostly performed by male singers. For specific projects the membership of the group is enlarged and female singers are invited to join in to perform compositions for a mixed group of singers. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 14, 2008 | Hits: 282

“Alina Rotaru studied piano and choral conducting at the music conservatory in her hometown Bucharest. There she came into contact with Early Music and founded her first ensemble. After moving to Germany in 1999, she studied harpsichord with Siegbert Rampe and Wolfgang Kostujak in Duisburg, Carsten Lohff and Detlef Bratschke in Bremen and Bob van Asperen in Amsterdam. She is the winner of the 6th Biagio Marini Early Music Competition. The debut CD of her ensemble LUXURIANS with works by G. Ph. Telemann was released in 2009. Her debut solo CD with harpsichord works by J. P. Sweelinck was released in October 2010. She plays concerts and gives master classes inside and outside Europe.

Alina Rotaru is currently working at the University of the Arts in Bremen as a harpsichord instructor.“

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Added on: Jan 18, 2010 | Hits: 282

“Michel Laplénie founded Sagittarius in 1986, with a view to exploring new repertoire and sharing his musical enthusiasms. High artistic standards have brought the ensemble international renown and made it one of the foremost vocal groups in Baroque performance.

With their unquenchable curiosity, Sagittarius have taken part in several high profile opera productions (Handel's Alcina, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1990 - Lully's Phaëton, for the reopening of the Lyons opera house, 1993 - Campra's L'Europe Galante, Aix-en-Provence Festival, 1993 - Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, directed by Marc Minkowski, 1995, etc.). The ensemble has performed in Europe's most famous concerts halls as well as prestigious international festivals, often resurrecting forgotten musical treasures.

Sagittarius is an ensemble of soloists, and features 5 to 20 professional singers and instrumentalists, all of them established performers of the early repertoire. The focus is on European vocal music of the Baroque era, more specifically from 17th and 18th-century France and Germany, with a particular fondness for Heinrich Schütz, whose Latinized name Sagittarius it adopted. This wide repetoire has led to a large number of recordings, which have won acclaim for the sincerity and depth of their performances.

Sagittarius has been appointed Resident Ensemble at Blaye, near Bordeaux, and is supported by the Regional Department for Cultural Affairs, the Aquitaine Region, the Département of Gironde, the cities of Blaye and Bordeaux, as well as the Caisse des Dépôts for its school programmes.”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 283

“Ensemble Impromptu rotates its musical artists, providing a unique experience for each event. Michelle D. Cosgrove is the founder of Ensemble Impromptu. Her experience with creating a variety of different chamber ensembles led her to developing a home base for each project- Ensemble Impromptu. Each concert features rotating guest artists, fashioning a new texture of instrumentation for each ensemble. This provides an opportunity for audiences to hear chamber music that is not regularly found in the mainstream classical venues.“

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Added on: Apr 14, 2010 | Hits: 284

"Centered on brothers Aaron, Pablo and Daniel Zapico, the ensemble Forma Antiqva is a point of reference within the field of early music in Spain. With the collaboration (depending on the programme) of young, prestigious soloists, the ensemble is regularly invited to the most important festivals, where the public and expert critics alike unanimously applaud their daring, virtuoso and lucid performances. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 14, 2008 | Hits: 285

"Albuquerque Baroque Players was formed in the summer of 1997 by six Albuquerque musicians who found that they had in common a desire to play Baroque music on the instruments of the period. They held a common belief that such performances would offer a greater understanding and depth of expression to music written over 250 years ago. After two years of infrequent performances, ABP was reborn with the current four members and has been performing a regular series of concerts at Los Altos Christian Church and the Historic Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, along with appearances at the Cathedral Church of St. John, the Albuquerque Museum, and the Albuquerque Public Library. To date, ABP has been financial assisted by New Mexico Arts, the City of Albuquerque Urban Enhancement Trust Fund , the Garcia Automotive Group, Van Dyke Software and the Walter A. Brooks & Marilyn Gulley Brooks Foundation, as well as many private sponsors. " See website for more details. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 18, 2008 | Hits: 286

"The ensemble recreates the elegant sounds of the official, professional wind bands of the late Medieval and Renaissance periods as well as the rustic entertainments of the peasantry. Audiences from Seattle to Spoleto, Italy, have marveled at the virtuosity of the ensemble, its precision and impeccable intonation, but most of all its vitality and enthusiasm. Shawms, sackbuts, dulcians, recorders, krumhorns, bagpipes, lutes, guitars and percussion provide the fascinating aural dimensions to an entertaining Piffaro performance. Piffaro has recorded extensively and can be heard on the Newport Classic, Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv Produktion, Wyndham Hill, Passacaille, and currently on Dorian Recordings labels. "

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Added on: Feb 23, 2008 | Hits: 286

"Costume Bands presents musicians in period costume for every occasion, from concert performance to weddings, ceilidhs, historical banquets, birthday and anniversary parties, fairs, festivals and much more besides.

Whether you are looking for a solo instrumentalist, a trio or a seven-piece band your needs will be met at this site. The superbly costumed musicians play a wealth of traditional instruments that include lute, cittern, pipe and tabor, harpsichord, serpent, harp, concertina and hurdy-gurdy.

Lively dance tunes, wedding processionals, lusty rounds and tranquil airs... all form part of a repertoire extending from the Mediaeval, Tudor, Stuart and 18th-century eras, to Victorian times.

Musicians represented on this site have provided music for film and TV work, as well as sound tracking for BBC radio productions. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 17, 2008 | Hits: 287

"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: 288

"Since 1995 Ensemble Soleil has given concerts and presented multi-media theatrical events in the United States and Europe. In 2001 Ensemble Soleil became a juried ensemble of the Vermont Arts Council.

Known for innovative programming and lively performances, we play period instruments and authentic modern copies. We were recognized by the I.R.S as a non profit organization in 1999.

Our programs feature the beautiful viol consort music of the Renaissance from Spain, Italy, England and the Low Countries, and the multi-faceted Baroque chamber music of Italy, Austria, Germany and France. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 24, 2008 | Hits: 288

Association for the performance of baroque dance and music.

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Added on: Apr 22, 2009 | Hits: 288

“The ensemble Syntagma is an early music ensemble, created in 1996 by Alexander Metz Danilevski, a lutenist and composer of Russian origin.

This group is dedicated to forgotten repertoire from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. The ensemble consists of singers, wind instruments and strings.”

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Added on: Feb 23, 2008 | Hits: 289

" ... It is to recreate the atmosphere and courteous popular medieval world that the group uses of musical instruments, some faithfully reconstructed on the basis of precise iconographic references, others still in use in the tradition of countries bordering the Mediterranean.

The group has toured in France, Germany, Poland, Holland, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Australia. The ensemble has performed for important associations concert and has participated in major ancient music events both Italian and foreign. ... " (translated (ed.)) Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2008 | Hits: 289

"Ensemble Adelchis was founded at the opportunity of Alessandro Manzoni's bicentenarial anniversary. At Sforza Castle, Milano, the Municipality set up the exhibition "Adelchis, dai Longobardi ai Carolingi", under the supervision of Arch. C. Calderini. The Head of the Culture Department of Milano Municipality charged Giovanna Motta with transcribing the lament for the death of the late Longobard Duke of Friuli, composed by Bishop Paolino d'Aquileia in 799, on the basis of the original notation. The resulting lament was recorded and used as background for the exhibitions held in Milano and Pavia. From the very few elements of these performances, say ine voice, one rebeck, one harp, as time went by the Ensemble Adelchis grew to its present formation. Althought relatively recently formed, the Ensemble Adelchis has already successfully performed before competent audiciens, such as Pavia's University, on the occasion of the 9th Anniversary of Lanfranco da Pavia' death; Foundation "G.Cini" in Venice; Medieval Weeks at Brisighella; Associazione Internazionale di studi di Canto Gregoriano in Cremona; Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo in Spoleto. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 24, 2008 | Hits: 289

"RONDELLUS was formed by Maria and Robert Staak in 1993 to perform and promote medieval and renaissance music. Depending on the specific programme, the ensemble varies between two and six singers and instrumentalists, who perform on replicas of period instruments. All members of the group are professional musicians with years of experience in Estonia's finest early music groups.

RONDELLUS has performed numerous concerts in the Baltic States, Scandinavia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland - Riga and Vilnius Early Music Festivals, Medieval Week in Gotland, Stockholm Europe Week, Chamber Music Festival in Norrtälje, Kalmar Renaissance Days, Bornholm Summer Music Festival, "European Middle Ages" festival in Hürsens, "Komponistinnen und ihr werk" in Kassel, Festival Montalbane in Freyburg, "Musica Antiqua Europae" in Bydgoszcz, Festival Of Monophonic Music in Plock, Sopron Early Music Festival, Festival of Medieval and Renaissance Theatre in Anagni, Festival "Recontres Internationales de Musique Medievale" in Thoronet, Festival of Medieval Theatre and Music in Elche, etc. "

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Added on: Feb 23, 2008 | Hits: 290

"Founded in San Francisco in 1986, American Baroque brings together some of America's most accomplished and exciting baroque instrumentalists, with the purpose of defining a new, modern genre for historical instruments. The group's adventurous programs combine 18th-century music with new works, composed for the group through collaborations and commissions from American composers. An ensemble of eclectic, accomplished, and artful musicians, the performances bridge a gap between the edges of the new music frontier and the familiar roads to music of the past, and expands the repertoire and scope of historical instruments into the new millenium.

After many accomplishments in the field of early music, in the early 1990s American Baroque began exploring the territory of performing new music written for historical instruments through its collaboration with composer, member and gambist Roy Whelden and his pieces Quartet After Abel and Gamba Quartet, which resulted in a CD release on the New Albion label in 1993. Intrigued by the unique timbres and subtlety of sounds inherent in their period instruments, the group continued to pursue projects and programming that involved combinations of new and old elements. Collaborations with such artists and composers as Rudy Rucker, Jonathan Berger, Carl Stone, and the Common Sense Composers Collective yielded an unprecented number of commissioned works written specifically for the group's instruments. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 02, 2008 | Hits: 290

"Ensemble Telemania takes its name from the German baroque composer, Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and is a baroque chamber music ensemble specialising in the performance of 17th and 18th century repertoire on period instruments.

Concert appearances have included: Charlton House, Waltham Abbey Church, St. Hilda's College Oxford, The Town Church in St.Peter Port Guernsey, The Foundling Museum, Southwark Cathedral and the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. In May 2006, Ensemble Telemania won the Ella Kidney prize for Early Music at Trinity College of Music, London. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 290

“Convinced that a country’s cultural roots and traditions always have a decisive influence on the expression of its musical language, in 1987 Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras founded La Capella Reial, one of the first vocal ensembles devoted to the interpretation of Hispanic Golden Age music according to historical principles and consisting exclusively of Hispanic and Latin voices.

Following the model of the famous “royal chapels” for which the great masterpieces of both religious and secular music were composed in the Iberian peninsula, this new “Capella Reial”, which in 1990 took the name of Capella Reial de Catalunya, was born as the result of more than 13 years of research and interpretation in the field of early music. Together with Hespèrion XX (founded in 1974), its main objective is to extend and deepen the fields of research into the specific characteristics of the Hispanic and European polyphonic vocal legacy before 1800. The hallmark of this ensemble is its approach to performance, which balances meticulous vocal sound quality and appropriateness to the style of the period with expressive diction and projection of the poetic text, always striving above all to convey the spiritual and artistic dimension peculiar to each individual work. Under the direction of Jordi Savall, it has an intense schedule of concert performances and recordings and regularly takes part in the principal music festivals around the world. …”

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Added on: Oct 03, 2011 | Hits: 291

"CONCERTANTE OF LONDON
Director: Sir Nicholas Jackson

CONCERTANTE OF LONDON is a versatile ensemble performing with as few as 4 musicians playing baroque instruments for Nicholas Jackson's new realisation of Bach's 'A Musical Offering' expanding to10 or more players when performing works such as Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. It also frequently adds 4 young solo singers for the performance of choral works. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 292

"The Cultural Association of "Orchestra Barocca La Confraternita de' Musici" is not for profit and aims to promote the musical culture through diversified solutions such as research, concerts, conferences, meetings, records, courses and competitions.

Founded by Cosimo Prontera, the Ensemble makes its debut at the “Leonardo Leo” Barocco Festival 1997. The ensemble plays on period instruments esploring the important and unknown repertoire of apulian composers acttive in Naples during the XVII and XVIII century. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 01, 2008 | Hits: 292

"Since it was founded in 1997, the Prague ensemble Collegium Marianum has focused on   revitalising the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. One of the few professional companies specialising in this field in the Czech Republic, it not only gives concerts of works in particular by composers who were born or active in central Europe, but also regularly performs unique musical drama and dance productions. Several modern day world premieres are presented each year. The ensemble has collaborated with renowned European directors, choreographers, conductors and soloists such as: Andrew Parrott, Simon Standage, Chiara Banchini, Benjamin Lazar, Sergio Azzolini, Peter Kooij, Peter van Heyghen or Sigrid T´Hooft.

Since 1999 the company has been under the artistic leadership of flautist Jana Semerádová, whose active research together with her study of baroque gesture, declamation and dance, has enabled her to gradually broaden the profile of the Collegium Marianum ensemble and present operas and intermezzos in the authentic surroundings of Czech baroque theatres.... "

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Added on: Jul 12, 2008 | Hits: 293

"Bray Baroque is a group of musicians centred in Bray and devoted to promoting

* the appreciation of Classical Music with courses, conferences, recitals
* the authentic interpretation of Western Music, from the Middle Ages to the Romanticism
* the links between Ancient Music and Irish Folk Music

in the Republic of Ireland, with the main focus in County Wicklow and South Dublin. " Visit website for more information.

Added on: Jan 15, 2009 | Hits: 293

"Pastimes is a group of musicians who perform early music on period instruments.

We had been playing together for a couple years before forming in 1995 the ensemble now known as Pastimes. We began receiving requests to play at private parties, costume dinners and outdoor fairs, business functions, school assemblies, and occasionally in church settings. We play renaissance music from the late 1400s to the mid 1600s, ranging from formal courtly and liturgical music to refined or rustic domestic entertainment.

We take our name from a song attributed to Henry VIII called 'Pastime with Good Company'. Our goal is to provide as much fun for those who hear us as we ourselves are having, and we do aim to have a good time! Our home base is in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 294