EarlyMusicNews.Org

“Founded in 2009 by François Joubert-Caillet, L’Achéron is constituted of a variable number of musicians, coming from all around the world, a young generation already performing with renowned ensembles and feeling the need to affirm their artistic personality in a more intimate context.
 
Focused on Renaissance, baroque and contemporary music, l’Achéron’s interpretation of ancient repertoire is an attempt to bring forth its fundamental characteristics, reinterpreting original works with the greatest respect, being as authentic but also as readable as possible for today’s audience. The marriage between musical research and the live interpretation feed the intellectual and sensorial curiosity of the audience.
 
L’Achéron is a laboratory for new ideas, concepts and artistic practices : improvisations as well as contemporary music are an integral part of what we hope will be the continually evolving approach of the ensemble.
 
In Greek mythology, the Acheron is the river of the Underworld on which Charon ferries the souls of the Dead to Hell, the very river Orpheus crosses to look for Eurydice. Nourished by this symbol, l’Acheron is willing to open up a way in between two apparently opposed worlds: the living and the dead, the past and present, ideal and reality.”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 208

Association for the performance of baroque dance and music.

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Added on: Apr 22, 2009 | Hits: 288

Kotchnak, founded in 1976, performs traditional Armenian folk songs as well as songs by ashoughs, or troubadours, especially those of Sayat Nova who lived in the 18th century.

Kotchnak has performed in numerous cities of Europe and North America.

Kotchnak specializes in the modal and monophonic interpretation of Armenian music.

Ensemble based in Paris.

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Added on: Jan 08, 2011 | Hits: 263

“The ensemble Il Seminario Musicale is founded in 1985 by Gerard Lesne, countertenor and musical director. ISM is today renowned to be one of the leading French ensembles in baroque musique. Its residency, since 1990, is the prestigious Foundation at the Abbaye de Royaumont, thirty kilometres in the north of Paris.

Since its creation, ISM is composed by first rank European musicians : Marc Minkowski, Fabio Bondi, Blandine Rannou, Bruno Cocset, Patrick Cohen-Akénine, Florence Malgoire, Benjamin Perrot, Florence Bolton, Anne-Marie Lasla, Angélique Mauillon or Violaine Cochard have all participated or still participate in the ensemble musical and artistic excellence. ..“

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Added on: Jul 27, 2009 | Hits: 370

“Ensemble Il Ballo was founded in 2002. It is dedicated to interpreting the music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with a particular interest in Renaissance music and Italian music of the early seventeenth century.”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 194

“Fuoco e Cenere is exceptional not only in its choice of repertoire, which spirals from medieval times to our own century, but foremost in its desire to kindle passions and memories that outlast the concert experience. The interpretations of Fuoco e Cenere magnify image and expression of superb musical and poetic texts enabling them to shock the public by their beauty. …”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 135

“Founded in 2005, the association Usclame is a collection of young researchers and a group of musicians (instrumentalists and singers), who work closely together, and that focus on French music of the second half of the seventeenth century …”

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Added on: Feb 05, 2012 | Hits: 163

“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: 285

“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: 278

“QUALIA lets the listener immerse into an almost alien musical world, into the deep roots and sources of being of European music history, which in today’s perception is almost lost completely. …” (Carpe Diem Records (label), http://www.carpediem-records.de/en/mundus-et-musica)

Also see: http://ensemblequalia.over-blog.com/pages/contact-2872937.html

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Added on: Nov 12, 2012 | Hits: 106

"Obsidienne, a vocal and instrumental ensemble conducted by Emmanuel Bonnardot, wishes to keep the medieval and renaissance repertoire alive in a simple, natural way, thus reconciling the art of performing and that of improvising music.

In a happy relation to poetry, theater and dance, often approaching contemporary, traditional or song repertoires, the ensemble keeps researching into forgotten or neglected works, and endeavouring to reconstruct the medieval instrumentarium, inspired in its work by the paintings of the Middle Ages’ greatest masters.

Obsidienne sometimes splits into smaller groups, allowing more specialized, more intimate and more personal work. At its full strength, with up to 16 musicians, the ensemble offers a powerful sound, in which soloists and choir alternate, a must in interpreting the great medieval repertoire. Obsidienne owe their longevity to their versatility and to the variety of their performances, which enabled them to reach exceptional musical quality. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 13, 2008 | Hits: 414

“Arianna Ensemble is a professional ensemble of baroque music. Founded in 2000 around the harpsichordist Marie-Paule Nounou, it presents the works of European heritage to discover the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and some masterpieces of the repertoire.”

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Added on: Nov 17, 2011 | Hits: 190

Early music ensemble.

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 466

“… Ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien explores with the same curiosity of little-known music, such as airs de cour (Et la fleur vole), the former Scottish music (For ever Fortune), brunettes (À l’ombre d’un ormeau) and pages of "grand repertoire "(Lully, Charpentier, Bach, Telemann) in search of natural musical phrasing, instrumental color and spirit of the dance. …”

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Added on: Nov 13, 2011 | Hits: 160

"Created in 1996 by Laurence POTTIER, all the musicians Mademoiselle de Guise aim to rediscover the old repertoire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century in a way educational and entertaining. The ensemble, varying in size from 4 to 40 instrumentalists and singers (or vocal soloists' singers Mlle de Guise ") is made up of musicians from the Paris area who play on instruments used at the time, originals or copies .

In 1999, Les Musiciens Mademoiselle de Guise recorded a disk at Bayard Music, "Christmas for the instrument s", devoted to composers Marc Antoine Charpentier, Michel Richard Delalande, Michel Corrette and Esprit Philippe Chédeville. In 2001, "Croc'Baroque" (Songs for children of the 16, 17 and 18th centuries), an educational disc, is registered in collaboration with a choir of children, Petit chorus of Miss de Guise, at Bayard and distributed by Music Agreement Universal.

Laurence Pottier is an instrumentalist as well as a musicologist. She earned a Masters degree in 1989 at La Sorbonne on "The recorder in Italy in the sixteenth century", and in 1993, a doctorate in musicology: "The repertoire of the recorder in France in the Baroque era. "

She participates in chamber music ensembles or a soloist, where she is interested in the relationship between music and dance ancient and contemporary as well as collaborates with the groups "ChapitreXVI" and "Chorégraphe".

She recorded in 1996 the set of suites of Jacques Hotteterre said "Roman" with Ph.Allain-Dupré, Ph.Pierlot and Y. Uyama-Bouvard (label Naxos). Uyama-Bouvard (label Naxos). Holder of CA she teaches recorder and runs regular courses in France and Brazil.

Laurence Pottier published in "The recorder in the seventeenth century" an article on the iconography of the recorder in France in the seventeenth century, following a lecture at the International Symposium Recorder of Utrecht in 1993. She also published in 1996 in Zurfluh, all three recorder methods in France of the Baroque era (Hotteterre, Freillon-Poncein and Loulié). " (Google translation) Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 31, 2008 | Hits: 348

“In 2000, some brilliant instrumentalists French decide to give substance to their spirit of innovation, and create Les Folies Francoise. This group’s mission, led by violinist Patrick Cohën-Akenine, is to revisit the baroque of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in the spirit of freedom, diversity and creativity that inspired the musicians of the Grand Siècle.”

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Added on: Nov 13, 2011 | Hits: 202

“Ensemble created in 2007, led by Damien Pouvreau, "Children of the Court" includes professional musicians who specialize in early music, whose approach is to explore the different facets of their music trade and by partnering with other personalities from the arts and culture (musicians, actors, singers, dancers, visual artists, graphic designers, photographers, writers).”

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Added on: Nov 13, 2011 | Hits: 214

Founded by Benjamin Perrot and Florence Bolton, La Rêveuse is a French early music ensemble specializing in XVIIth century music. Visit website for more information.

Added on: Jul 13, 2008 | Hits: 477

“In mythology, La Fenice - the Phoenix - is a fabulous bird, which was celebrated for consuming itself in flame then rising from its ashes. La Fenice is used here as a symbol of the influence of Italian music in Baroque Europe. It was also the title of a work by Giovanni Martino Cesare, an Italian composer and cornett player who moved north of the Alps in the early 17th century. Today this name has been adopted by a group of musicians, whose common desire is to share their passion for the sumptuous Venetian music of that time and bring out all its extraordinary vitality.

The ensemble's repertoire nevertheless includes works by composers from all over Europe and covers more than two centuries of music; indeed, the cornett was commonly used in the early 16th century by Josquin Desprez and his contemporaries and it was still in use at J.S. Bach's time and Bach himself included it in several of his cantatas.

The cornett can be found alongside the voice in sacred music throughout the Baroque period; it is mentioned in the registers of the Royal Chapel at Versailles until 1733. As for the sound it produces, Mersenne, tells us in his Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636) that « it is like a sunbeam shining through the shadows or through the darkness when it is heard among the voices in churches, cathedrals or chapels... “

Anxious to respect the original instrumentation, particularly in vocal music, where the instruments shed light on the text through their symbolical import, the ensemble adapts to fit in with each programmes it performs. Coming from all over Europe, the Ensemble’s musicians are all internationally renowned soloists, playing with the best Early music ensembles in the world.

Just after its establishment, the Ensemble La Fenice has won the first prize in two international competitions (Bruges, 1990 and Malmö, 1992). Since then, it has played in the most important festivals in France, Europe and all over the world. La Fenice’s recordings - Opus 111, Virgin Classics, Ricercar - are regularly awarded the most prestigious distinctions (Choc Monde de la Musique, Diapason d'Or, 10/10. Répertoire, 5 Etoiles. Goldberg…).”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 188

“ … The Ensemble l’Échelle declares itself partisan of certain Renaissance music, for the profoundly humanist ideas which it expresses. The chamber musicians who make it up seek to pool their musical talent in the search for an appropriate historic verisimilitude. …”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 176

“Founded in 2009 by François Joubert-Caillet, L’Achéron is constituted of a variable number of musicians, coming from all around the world, a young generation already performing with renowned ensembles and feeling the need to affirm their artistic personality in a more intimate context.

Focused on Renaissance, baroque and contemporary music, l’Acheron’s interpretation of ancient repertoire is an attempt to bring forth its fundamental characteristics, reinterpreting with the greatest respect original works, being as authentic but also as readable as possible for today’s audience. The marriage between musical research and the live interpretation feed the intellectual and sensorial curiosity of the audience.

L’Acheron is a laboratory for new ideas, concepts and artistic practices: improvisations as well as contemporary music are an integral part of what we hope will be the continually evolving approach of the ensemble.

In Greek mythology, the Acheron is the river of the Underworld on which Charon ferries the souls of the Dead to Hell, the very river Orpheus crosses to look for Eurydice. Nourished by this symbol, l’Acheron is willing to open up a way in between two apparently opposed worlds: the living and the dead, the past and present, ideal and reality.“

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Added on: Nov 16, 2011 | Hits: 338

"L'Ensemble Gilles Binchois, who will celebrate its 30th year of performance, since its creation in 1979, has explored the large repertoire of the Middle Ages to the vocal repertoire of the Renaissance. ... "

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Added on: Apr 18, 2008 | Hits: 392

“Created in 2005, Entheos, get its name after Plato's who is  thought to have influenced the Renaissance. Entheos means enthusiasm, the force that leads a man to discover, create and share. This is the origin of the abundance of artistic and intellectual renaissance that Ensemble has chosen to relive through concerts and shows.”

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Added on: Sep 30, 2011 | Hits: 226

“Female vocal ensemble, usually five to ten a cappella singers, Discantus brings the vocal repertoire of the Middle Ages(9th century) to the dawn of the Renaissance, especially sacred music. It has emerged internationally as a reference for this kind of repertoire performed by female voices.” (Google transl.)

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Added on: May 07, 2009 | Hits: 339

“Since 1992, a small team of loyal and passionate musicians recreates, around Antoine Guerber, extraordinary music of the period so remote, intriguing, fascinating, which has shaped our culture, our language, our society: the Middle Ages.”

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Added on: Nov 13, 2011 | Hits: 339