EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Linking professional and amateur countertenors and people interested in the CT repertoire" ...

Added on: Aug 03, 2007 | Hits: 445

"The CHORUS OF THE BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO was founded in early 2003 by Ruben Valenzuela with the purpose of enriching the music offerings of San Diego by presenting historically informed performances of the music of the Renaissance, Baroque, and in particular the music of J.S. Bach. The chorus consists of the finest singers in San Diego, many of whom have longstanding experience with such ensembles and performers as Chanticleer, The Waverly Consort, The Philharmonia Chorale, American Bach Soloists, James Bowman, Julianne Baird, Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra." ...

Added on: Jan 26, 2008 | Hits: 403

"A chorister from the age of seven, Philip Cave has been involved with choral music all his life. He studied music at Oxford University with Simon Preston and was a Choral Scholar and Lay-clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, where he also directed the College Choir, the Cathedral Voluntary Choir, and sang with the Schola Cantorum and the Clerkes of Oxenford. During the following years, he taught music, performed as a soloist and conducted several ensembles including the Oxford Harmonic Society, a city choir of 120 voices, with whom he performed much of the standard choral society repertoire.

He was a founding member of the Tallis Scholars with whom he gave over 400 performances, and for many years a lay-clerk in New College Choir, directed by Edward Higginbottom.

He has performed, toured and recorded with the Hilliard Ensemble, The Sixteen, the Choir of the English Consort, the King's Consort, the Schütz Choir of London and the Cardinall's Musick. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 08, 2008 | Hits: 362

"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: 543

"Born in Manchester, mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson read Classics with a Choral Scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge. She subsequently took up a scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London, where she won the Early Music, Lieder, English Song and Oratorio/Cantata Prizes.

Now established as a soloist specialising in Renaissance and Baroque music, Clare is in demand with many distinguished conductors and ensembles. In particular, she has performed in many of the world’s major concert venues, from the Hong Kong Philharmonic to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with The English Baroque Soloists/Sir John Eliot Gardiner (including her recent debuts at the Royal Albert Hall singing Grandi and Rigatti, and the Royal Opera House singing Mozart). With Gardiner she has also sung Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Magnificat and Mass in B Minor around Europe, Handel’s Dixit Dominus in the USA and Purcell’s The Tempest in the Far East. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 397

"Uncovering forgotten music and bringing it to life through her own performances is Lucie Skeaping’s skill and passion. She has performed and researched extensively into various areas of musical history, from the traditional music of the British Isles to the haunting ballads of the exiled Jews of Spain, from the musical skills of infamous royal mistresses of the past to the earthy street ballads collected by Samuel Pepys. Along the way she has explored music from Shakespeare’s theatre, the instruments dredged up from the wreck of Henry VIII’s ill-fated Mary Rose and the songs heard in the lowest dives of Charles Dickens’ London. " Visit website for more information.

Added on: Apr 04, 2008 | Hits: 390

"John Potter's musical collaborators include the composer Ambrose Field, video artist Michael Lynch and the lutenist Ariel Abramovich, as well as The Dowland Project, Red Byrd and the Gavin Bryars Ensemble. He is a member of the German ensemble The Sound & The Fury, and with fellow tenor Christopher O’Gorman is a part of the Hyperion/University of Southampton Conductus Project. A writer and scholar as well as a singer, he has published four books on singing and is a former British Library Edison Fellow. He is Reader Emeritus in Music at the University of York, having left the university in 2010 to focus on his portfolio of freelance activities.

John's eclectic performing experience has ranged from first performances of works by Berio, Stockhausen, James Dillon and Michael Finnissy to backing vocals for Manfred Mann, Mike Oldfield and The Who (among others). Red Byrd, the group he founded with bass Richard Wistreich, has recorded music as diverse as Monteverdi (both straight and with electric guitars), Leonin (3 albums for Hyperion) and the Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones (for Factory Records). He was a major contributor to the Hilliard Ensemble’s Officium project (for which he has five gold discs), and subsequently developed many of the ideas in The Dowland Project’s four albums for ECM; he also produced the first three ECM albums by the Scandinavian trio mediaeval.

Current projects include multimedia presentations of music by Ambrose Field (Being Dufay and its successor, both with films by Michael Lynch) and the Conductus Project (three albums for Hyperion with associated live performances also with films by Michael Lynch). His lute song repertoire ranges from Thomas Ford to Benedetto Ferrari and beyond, and includes programmes of Dowland and Campion. He also works with vihuela on the 15th/16th century ‘intabulation’ repertory, and with chitarrone on later music by Blow, Purcell and others."

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 08, 2008 | Hits: 467

"One of the world's leading countertenors for nearly 30 years; James Bowman's career spans Opera, Oratorio, Contemporary music and Solo recitals. He was born in Oxford on 6 November 1941 and began singing as a boy chorister at Ely Cathedral. He later went to New College, Oxford. He was a member of the New College and Christ Church choirs. ...

In May 1996 James Bowman received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.James is also President of the Holst Singers.He was made a CBE in the Queen's birthday honours list in June 1997. In November 1998 James was made an Honorary Fellow of New College Oxford. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 08, 2008 | Hits: 279

"Peter Harvey arrived at Magdalen College, Oxford to study French and German, but soon afterwards changed course to music, with his love of languages always remaining at the heart of his singing, however. On leaving university he went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, during which time he won prizes in a number of international singing competitions, including the Walther Grüner International Lieder Competition, the English Song Award, and the Peter Pears Award.

Peter has made well over a hundred recordings in repertoire spanning eight centuries, with an emphasis on music from the High Baroque. Along with works by Handel and Purcell he has recorded all the major vocal works of J.S. Bach and many of the cantatas with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe and Paul McCreesh. A fluent French speaker, Peter has recorded a great many sacred works of the French Baroque (Campra, Gilles, Lully, Charpentier, Lalande) including Rameau's complete Grands Motets (with Le Concert Spirituel) and the secular cantatas for bass voice (with London Baroque, on BIS). From the twentieth century French repertoire he has recorded the Fauré Requiem twice with Michel Corboz, the latest version winning the "Choc de l'année" in Le Monde de la Musique, while as yet unreleased is a new version of the Duruflé Requiem with Magdalen College, Oxford. The Gabrieli Consort's new recording of Haydn's Creation, for Deutsche Grammophon, on which Peter sings "Adam" has recently been released to great acclaim.

Recent career highlights include Bach cantatas with Ton Koopman in Vienna's Musikverein, the B minor Mass in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Die Winterreise with Roger Vignoles in Cambridge and Spain, Messiah in Toronto, a tour to the Far East with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment in the St John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in Bernard Haitink's first performances of the work. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 09, 2008 | Hits: 402

"Concerto delle Donne refers to the three celebrated singing ladies of the court of Duke Alfonso of Ferrara in the 1580s. The duke was such an enthusiast of the female voice that he gathered together a concerto delle donne comprising the finest sopranos of the day, famed throughout Italy for the beauty of their voices and their ability to execute the most elaborate ornamentation. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 12, 2008 | Hits: 380

"The Elizabethan Singers of London has established a fine reputation for its performances which have included concerts in The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room on London's famous South Bank, and in many of the historic churches and buildings within The City of London. They also perform regularly at venues throughout the UK.

The group, one of the oldest established chamber choirs in London, are based in the heart of the City and rehearse in the shadow of a memorial sculpture to one of England's great Tudor composers John Dowland (1563-1626)

The Elizabethan Singers of London have made several professional tours abroad, on two occasions to Sweden as well as to Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. Foreign tours, festivals and other interesting engagements are on the Singers busy schedule for future seasons. London possesses numerous buildings with great historic connections and the ensemble has performed in several, including the elegant Banqueting House, Whitehall, used at the execution of King Charles I, and the Middle Temple Ilall in London which saw the first performances of Shakespeare's Twelth Night. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 386

"She was born in Huesca, Spain. At the age of nine she began studying voice and piano at the Miguel Fleta School of Music. From there she went on to study voice at the Conservatorio del Liceu de Barcelona where she specialized in opera and received an honours diploma. Subsequently she transferred to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, where she studied with Dominique Vellard and Richard Levitt and began working as a soloist and chamber musician with various groups such as Gilles Binchois (medieval and renaissance music), Vox Suavis, (founded by her and Dominique Vellard, dedicated to traditional and medieval spanish music) and la Cecchina (baroque music). With these ensembles she has performed regularly at international festivals in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. She also has given introductory courses to the interpretation of old music at the conservatory of Huesca (Spain), in New Hampshire (USA) and at the Pigna University in Corsica. She has collaborated in several cd recordings with Gilles Binchois and la Cecchina."

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 18, 2008 | Hits: 430

" The versatility and agility of Sophia Brumfitt's voice has enabled her to work in areas spanning the entire spectrum of early music; from Medieval to Early Classical. She has performed as a soloist in oratorio, through renaissance and medieval music, to traditional Celtic and Sephardic song.

In 2002 she founded Rosa Mundi with Australian Lutenist, Rosemary Hodgson. She is also a member of medieval ensembles Bardos Band, and Daughters of Elvin, has appeared in Dartington Festival Baroque Opera, and sung with baroque consorts Phoenix Rising, Hanbarne Ensemble and with The Dolmetsch Ensemble. She has sung with the Chorus of Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Canonbury Chamber Choir and Gabriel Garrido's Ensemble Elyma at many prestigious venues. She has made a huge variety of appearances from Radio 4's Woman's Hour talking about the enduring love song, performing at WitchFest at Fairfield Halls, and her acting debut at DownPatrick Opera Fringe Festival, Northern Ireland, in Anthony Blatchworth's 'Demetrius, Prince of Tuscany'. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 300

"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: 613

"EMILY VAN EVERA has earned an international reputation for stylishly expressive singing in a variety of repertoires. Her many recordings include ground-breaking and award-winning performances of works by Monteverdi, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach and Handel with the Taverner Players, music of Renaissance Italy, England and Spain with the Musicians of Swanne Alley, Circa 1500 and Musica Secreta, music by Rossi and Cavalli with Tragicomedia and Concerto Palatino and by Machaut and Hildegard of Bingen with Gothic Voices. She sang the role of Dido for the BBC’s acclaimed commemorative recording of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Taverner Players, re-issued by Sony), features on the Taverner Consort’s The Promise of Ages (“which Sony might safely have named ‘Quite Simply the Best Christmas Album Ever’” – BBC Music Magazine), and most recently released My Lady Rich, a portrait of Elizabethan gentlewoman Penelope Rich in music by Dowland, Byrd, Coprario and Tessier (see Reviews).

Stage and television appearances include productions of operatic works by Monteverdi, Lully, Charpentier and Handel, and a dramatised solo concert of early Tudor song for BBC2. Emily has broadcast from the BBC Proms and throughout Europe and North America in music ranging from folk ballads and trumpet arias to Haydn masses and songs by Charles Ives and Vaughan Williams. Born in northern Minnesota, she lives in Oxfordshire and travels in both continents for concerts. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 390

"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: 564

"It was formed in 1997 and it is composed of variable singers with a prevalence of female voices which work trying to reach a vocal purity as near as possible to the interpretative standards of the medieval and Renaissance music. The study of the pure vocalism is characterized by the tonic peculiarity and consistency of the voices which transmit an accurate transparency and a sound useful to bring the essence of the prayer and the word of the sacred texts which are magnified by the ancient melodies to life again. The research is about musics from the codexes of Carolingian age, the medieval laud books and the ancient books of the medieval age, liturgical and not, with a particular reference to the Umbria and Toscana area. To strengthen the work of research and study the Association organizes seminars of Gregorian chant and ancient music with experts in this sector like Nino Albarosa, Giovanni Conti and Tito Molisani. ... " Visit webstie for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2008 | Hits: 450

"ARS ANTIQUA (Genoa, Italy) is a vocal and instrumental ensemble, specialized in music of the Early Middle Age, through Gregorian Chant, to Mediaeval and Humanistic music. We are interested in concerts, liturgies, and also seminars for students and colleagues. The director of Musicke is Guido Milanese. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2008 | Hits: 440

"I Cantori Gregoriani are a male voice group which exclusively dedicates itself to the study and the spread of Gregorian chant. Consisting entirely of specialists, the ensemble bases its own performances on research into semiology, that is the study of antique manuscripts dating from the Xth –X1th centuries. The performances of the group are aimed at transmitting, through the actual instruments of the semiology, the expressive force of Gregorian chant, i.e. the correct musical representation of the ancient exegetic tradition of the sacred texts. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2008 | Hits: 476

"The vocal group Dimensione Polifonica was founded in 1984. It is specialized in the execution of sacred and secular polyphony of the renaissance and baroque repertoire. The concert activity of the group is considerable. It has participated to the most important national and international events among which the XV Edition of the International Polyphonyc Examination G. D'Arezzo, the XXXIII International Happening of Musical Chapels of Loreto, the XVII Edition of Polyphonyc Meetings of Pescara and the II International Musical Tournment of Rome. The vocal group has performed in a world preview L. Leo's unpublished "Dixit Dominus" for choir, violins and thorough bass only. The group has done many radio recordings and it has regularly cooperated with the archiepiscopal Curia of Naples, the University "Federico II" and the Academy of Musical "S. Pietro a Majella". The vocal group "Dimensione Polifonica" has been founded by Maestro Biagio Terracciano, who is also its permanent Director. ... " Visite website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 20, 2008 | Hits: 350

"STEFANO TORELLI countertenor
Born in Parma (Italy)
Degree in classical Philology
Musicological studies in Cremona (School for Paleography and Philology) and Milan (Armenian musicology)

He studied organ and gambaviol. As a countertenor he attended several masterclasses with , Gloria Banditelli, James Griffett of Pro Cantione Antiqua , Evelyn Tubb and Poppy Holden of the Consort of Musicke, Claudio Cavina, Cristina Miatello and Sandro Naglia. Later his teacher was Anatoli Gusev in Milan. He studied the gregorian chant with G.Baroffio and the medioeval singing with Sequentia and Pedro Memelsdorff. He's specialising in Baroque singnig in Vicenza

He sings both in ensembles and as a soloist. He has recorded more yhan ten CDs, some focusing on Renaissance polyphony and some with the ensemble stirps jesse (Milan) on gregorian chant and medioeval polyphony. He also recorded a CD a soloist with gregorian chant from an unpublished codex and Italian arias (Donati, Pergolesi, Rossini). He took part in the first recording of Rognoni's Diminuzioni for gambaviol (Symphonia).

In 1996 he founded the male vocal quartett Quadrivium who performs a repertoire going from the Medieval Music to the Baroque. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 25, 2008 | Hits: 397

"The Capella Dvcale Venetia, musicians specializing in Renaissance music, conceived and directed by Livio Picotti, operating since 1992 in the city of Venice. ... " View website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 25, 2008 | Hits: 422

"The choral society Quadriclavio, founded in 1995 by Francesco Scognamiglio and since 1998 conducted by Lorenzo Bizzarri, is a polyphonic choir formed by lovers of sacred and Baroque music who needn't anyway necessarily read music.

The single parts actually are recorded on tapes, that become the singer's groundwork for studying and learning by heart the melody written in the part." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 25, 2008 | Hits: 382

" The Coro Dell'Aventino belongs to the Musical Association “ROMAinCANTO”, and was founded with the aim of studying and performing masterpieces of Italian and foreign composers of sacred music, with a special predilection for the authors of the XVII and the XVIII centuries. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 25, 2008 | Hits: 359

"Complesso Polifonico Ghirlanda Musicale was founded in Bergamo, Italy, in 1987, under the guidance of Marco Maisano. It currently includes about thirty members, who study and divulge the sacred and profane renaissance polyphony, the sacred choral literature of the baroque period, and a few significant elements of the modern repertoire. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 07, 2008 | Hits: 376