Alamire (England)

ALAMIRE takes its name from the solemnization symbols found in the 'hand' of Guido d'Arezzo, an 11th-century teacher and theorist; the term was also used as a pseudonym by the early 16th-century scribe and music editor, Petrus Alamire (aka Peter van den Hove, c.1470 - 1536). The consort was founded in 2005 by David Skinner as an extension to his research and performance activities, and in order to explore and promote the compositional processes behind the great masterworks, and lesser-known works, of the late medieval and early modern periods. Their first recording 'Music from the Court of Henry VIII' was released in December 2005, and they have recently recorded the madrigals of Philippe Verdelot from the Newberry-Oscott partbooks, which in 1526 were a gift from the city of Florence to Henry VIII. It is the combination of academic excellence and supreme quality of voices that makes Alamire an ideal ensemble not only for concerts and recordings, but for various media-based projects including gallery installations and soundtracks for historical documentaries and films. Recent projects include a television documentary on the Office of St David, and an exploration of the music of Josquin Desprez within the medium of modern 'sound art'. Plans are afoot to exploit the multi-media experience of late medieval and early renaissance music in a three-part television documentary, currently under development. Recordings

Anonymous 4 (US)

Originally formed in 1986 to experiment with the sound of medieval chant and polyphony as sung by higher voices, Anonymous 4 has become renowned for its astonishing vocal blend and technical virtuosity. The four women of Anonymous 4 combine musical, literary, and historical scholarship with 20th-century performing intuition as they create innovative programs interweaving music with poetry and narrative. Anonymous 4 has performed to critical acclaim on music series throughout North America, in such cities as Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Washington, DC.

The group has appeared on a wide range of radio and television programs, including NPR's "Performance Today," "Weekend Edition," and NPR stations around the country. Anonymous 4 has been featured on "CBS Sunday Morning" with Charles Osgood, Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," MPR's "St. Paul Sunday," and WNYC's "Around New York. " The ensemble appeared on Australian Broadcasting Company's program "Access All Areas," ZDF's "Ersteklassich!" and were also featured on Classic FM and BBC World Service. Recordings

Anuna (Ireland)

The music of the ancient Celts has been all but lost except for a handful of strange and beautiful fragments. Anuna was founded by the young Dublin composer Michael McGlynn in 1987 to explore and redefine this music, which has been a significant part of Ireland's rich and turbulent history. The haunting sound-world created by Anœna breaks down the barriers between the spiritual and the sacred, the real and the unreal, putting them very firmly at the front of the musical renaissance now coming from the Celtic lands.

The name Anuna derives from the ancient Irish name "An Uaithne," which collectively describes the three ancient types of Celtic music, Suantrai (lullaby), Geantrai (happy song) and Goltrai (lament). Ê In 1993, after many years of performance all over Ireland, refining their show, developing their sound and generally exploring their musical heritage [they even took set-dancing lessons!], they decided to record their first album. Anuna, their self-titled debut of 1993, drew them to the attention of the Irish public, and is a fair representation of the stage that they had reached by that time. It contains a very broad mix of material, from ancient to contemporary Irish music, and features Michael's original songs and arrangements predominantly. Recordings

Cardinall's Musick (England)

Since 1989, The Cardinall's Musick, directed by Andrew Carwood, has forged for itself a formidable reputation. Originally known for bringing neglected masterworks of the English Renaissance to a wider public, the group has thrilled audiences with its expressive, vibrant and moving interpretations - characteristics not always associated with performances of music from this early period. This expressiveness comes from the open and soloistic way in which the singers are encouraged to perform within the consort and from the confidence of a unique partnership; a partnership between awareness of the music and text and a vital emphasis on academic excellence. The co-director musicologist, David Skinner, freshly edits the music from the original manuscripts (or contemporary printed editions).

Ten years on, The Cardinall's Musick now embraces a wide range of styles and periods, from a complete reconstruction of a mass in Hampton Court from the time of Henry VIII to the world premiere Palm-Sunday, a new piece written for the group by Michael Finnissy. Equally at home in the music of the sixteenth, seventeenth or twentieth centuries, The Cardinall's Musick presents thoughtful, themed programmes designed to stimulate and enlighten, to broaden horizons but also to look at standard repertoire with a fresh eye. Praised as being Ôerotic' by the Daily Telegraph, the group has performed at the most prestigious festivals in Great Britain including Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, the South Bank and the Proms. Recordings

Gothic Voices (England)

Founded twenty-five years ago by scholar and musician Christopher Page, Gothic Voices has had a career of unparalleled success and diversity, bringing unfamiliar music - predominantly from the 11th to the 15th century - to audiences all over the world. The group has sung in great cathedrals in Germany and Spain, medieval abbeys in France and Italy, theatres, concert halls and even a shopping centre (in Ecuador). The singers have toured widely in Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, North and South America to immense acclaim. In London they have appeared in the BBC Promenade concerts and at the Spitalfields Festival, performing regularly in the Wigmore Hall and at the South Bank Centre. Elsewhere in Britain they have performed at the Aldeburgh and Chester Festivals, the York and Birmingham Early Music Festivals and at the International Festivals of Edinburgh and Cheltenham. Overseas venues include the Flanders and Utrecht Early Music Festivals and the Vestfold Festival in Norway. Recordings

Huelgas Ensemble (Netherlands)

Founded and directed by Paul Van Nevel, the Huelgas-Ensemble has emerged as one of Europe’s premiere vocal ensembles dedicated to the performance of music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Combining academic erudition with extraordinary skill and verve, the Huelgas Ensemble brings to life long-forgotten works of music that all too often have lain in dark corners of archives and libraries across the European continent. Through his work with the Huelgas Ensemble, Van Nevel initially focused on contemporary music. He gradually began to concentrate more on Medieval and Renaissance music, developing a specialty in the rich repertoire of Flemish polyphony. He approaches this music from an historical perspective and his interpretations reflect the spirit of the age. Recordings

Oxford Camerata (England)

The Oxford Camerata was founded by Jeremy Summerly in 1984 since when the choir has given concerts throughout Europe and has made almost 30 CD recordings. The core group comprises 12 singers with or without keyboard accompaniment, but for certain projects the choir has been made up of as few as 4 singers and as many as 20. After a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion in the Snape Maltings on Good Friday of 1986, Sir Peter Pears, who was at the performance, agreed to become the Oxford Camerata's first patron. Sadly he died within days but his place was immediately taken by Philip Ledger. Not long afterwards Lord Bullock also agreed to become patron to the choir. While the Camerata was initially recognised as a specifically Early Music group, since the early 1990s the choir has expanded its repertory to include music from Gregorian chant to the present day. Recordings

Pomerium (US)

Pomerium was founded by Alexander Blachly in New York in 1972 to perform music composed for the famous chapel choirs of the Renaissance. (The name - medieval Latin for "garden" or "orchard" - derives from the title of a treatise by the 14th-century music theorist Marchettus of Padua, who explained that his book contains the "flowers and fruits" of the art of music.) Widely known for its interpretations of Du Fay, Ockeghem, Busnoys, Josquin, Lassus, and Palestrina, the 14-voice a cappella ensemble has performed for numerous international festivals, most recently the Festival di Musica Sacra Bressanone e Bolzano (Brixner Initiative), the Tage Alter Musik festival in Regensburg, Germany, the Flanders Festival Antwerp, and the Holland Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht. The ensemble has released four CD's : "A Musical Book of Hours"; "Creator of the Stars: Christmas Music from Earlier Times", "The Virgin & the Temple: Motets and Plainchant by Guillaume Du Fay", and Du Fay's Mass for St. Anthony of Padua; and, on the Dorian and Classic Masters labels, music by Arcadelt, Busnoys, Du Fay, Gesualdo, Marenzio, Monteverdi, Ockeghem, Wert, and Willaert. Recordings

The Rose Ensemble (US)

Based in St. Paul, MN, the Rose Ensemble is a daring and inventive vocal ensemble captivating audiences with virtuosic performances and the dramatic telling of ancient stories that speak to today's world. Founded in 1996 by Artistic Director Jordan Sramek, The Rose Ensemble has built a diverse and enthusiastic contemporary audience with imaginative presentations of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, scrupulously researched and beautifully presented with what the Miami Sun-Sentinel called “buoyant agility.” The Rose Ensemble’s musicians cast a rich and harmonious spell with ancient music, their music intertwined with the stories of heroes and heroines of old, while also commissioning Minnesota composers to write new works that complement the old and remind audiences of the timeless human spirit that resonates across centuries. Currently presenting an average of over 50 performances each year and maintaining an active touring schedule filled with performances and educational programs nationwide, The Rose Ensemble is the recipient of the 2005 Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and has as enjoyed a prestigious artist residency at The Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis since 1997. Called “The Twin Cities' most daring and imaginative vocal ensemble” by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, the musicians of The Rose Ensemble have received acclaim for their ability to sing both as an ensemble and as individual soloists, while director Jordan Sramek has been lauded for diverse programming and ground-breaking research. Recordings

The Sixteen (England)

The Sixteen is one of the jewels in the musical crown of Britain. Internationally recognised as one of the finest choirs of our time, it is admired for performances combining clarity and precision with beauty and dramatic intensity. It concentrates on the heritage of early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance and Baroque, and a diversity of twentieth century choral work. The choir is complimented for larger scale works by its orchestra, The Symphony of harmony and Invention, and through it Harry Christophers brings fresh insights to the music of Purcell, Monteverdi, JS Bach and Handel. Many prize-winning recordings reflect the quality and inspiration of the group's work. Recent years have seen the group's debuts at the Vienna Musikverein, the Brisbane, Covent Garden, Halle, Istanbul and Lucerne festivals, and at the Lisbon Opera in a new production of Monmteverdi's "Il Ritorno d'Ulisse". In 2000 The Sixteen made a Choral Pilgrimage to the finest English cathedrals, returning pre-reformation music written for these buildings to its home. This met with a huge public response. In coming months the group makes major tours of Japan and the USA, returns to the Covent Garden Festival, New York's Lincoln Center, Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and London's Barbican Centre, and makes debuts at the Scarlatti Festival, Italy, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, and the Belfast, Brighton, Chicester, Norwich and Three Choirs festivals. Recordings

Stile Antico (England)

Stile Antico is an ensemble of young British singers, fast gaining recognition as one of the most original and exciting new voices in its field. In 2005 the group won the inaugural Audience Prize at the Early Music Network International Young Artists’ Competition, drawing critical praise for its ‘wonderfully vivid singing’ and ‘perfectly focused and ideally balanced voices.’ Since this success, Stile Antico has appeared throughout the UK, including at the City of London, Lake District Summer Music and Beverley and East Riding Festivals; engagements for 2007 include the York Early Music Festival. The group has also collaborated with Sting on tour in his project Songs from the Labyrinth, performing lute songs by John Dowland.

Working without a conductor, the members of Stile Antico rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing artistically to the musical result. Their repertoire ranges from the glorious legacy of the English Tudor composers to the works of the Flemish and Spanish schools and the music of the early Baroque. They are passionate about the need to communicate with their audiences, combining thoughtful programming with direct, expressive performances. They are also committed to developing their educational work, for which they have received generous funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Recordings

Tallis Scholars (England)

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips. Through their recordings and concert performances, they have established themselves as leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music. Their exploration of the depth and variety of this repertoire has reached a world-wide audience. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serves the Renaissance repertoire, allowing every detail of the musical lines to be heard. It is the resulting beauty of sound for which the Tallis Scholars have become renowned.

The Tallis Scholars perform in both sacred and secular venues, giving around 80 concerts each year. They tour at least twice a year in the USA where they have been described as "a capella superstars", and give substantial tours in the Far East every eighteen months. In April 1994 The Tallis Scholars enjoyed the privilege of performing in the Sistine Chapel to mark the final stage of the complete restoration of the Michaelangelo frescoes. The group has given four major tours of Australia, singing in the Sydney Opera House and throughout the country. Recordings

Trio Mediaeval (Norway)

Trio Mediaeval was founded in Oslo in 1997, 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. The trio has collaborated with many composers, including Gavin Bryars, Ivan Moody, Roger Marsh, Paul Robinson, Piers Hellawell, (UK), Joanne Metcalf (USA), Thoma Simaku (Albania), Oleh Harkavyy (Ukraine), Gonzalo Macías (Mexico), Bjørn Kruse and Andrew Smith (Norway), and Sungji Hong (Korea).

Trio Mediaeval has given concerts and radio broadcasts in the US, UK, Austria, Holland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland, the Baltic States, Spain and France. They have performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall London, BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concerts from the Temple Church, Trinity College Chapel Cambridge, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Oslo Concert House. In February 2004 the trio made its first tour of the US, with concerts and broadcasts in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago and Lacey. In November 2004 they made their second US tour also visiting Canada, and including radio broadcasts in Minnesota, Georgia and Quebec, Canada. Their April 2005 US tour brings them for the first time to the West Coast, and in December their venues include Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall and the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. Recordings

Tapestry (US)

Tapestry, a Boston-based ensemble of women's voices, was founded in 1995 by Director Laurie Monahan, mezzo-soprano, Cristi Catt, soprano and Daniela Tosic, alto. The ensemble made its concert debut with Steve Reich's Tehellim at Jordon Hall in Boston in a performance deemed "a knockout" by the Boston Globe. The trademark of the ensemble is combining medieval repertory and contemporary compositions in bold, conceptual programs. Critics hail their rich distinctive voices, their "technically spot-on singing" and their emotionally charged performances. Gramophone Magazine describes a piece from their Celestial Light recording: "This is an outstanding performance such as I have rarely heard, beginning with a smooth legato of utter perfection in a low restricted range, then gradually expanding upwards with ecstasy to reach a top D with amazing control." The Cleveland Plain Dealer describes Tapestry as "an ensemble that plants haunting vibrations, old and new, in our ears" and The San Diego Reader describes the ensemble's Song of Songs Program as "hypnotically beautiful...a cornucopia of sensual pleasures." Recordings

La Venexiana (Italy)

The name La Venexiana is taken from an anonymous Renaissance comedy, one of the cardinal points of reference in Italian theatre both for its use of language, a combination of Italian and dialect, and for its acute rendering of a society and its manners. In styling itself after this glorious tradition, La Venexiana aims to incorporate into its musical interpretations an attention to language in all of its subtlety, and an exultation of contrasts between the refined and the popular, the sacred and the profane. This ensemble has established a new style in Italian early music performance: a warm, truly Mediterranean blend of textual declamation, rhetorical colour and harmonic refinement. Born of the collaboration between soprano Rossana Bertini and countertenor Claudio Cavina, its current musical director, La Venexiana makes a careful use of the original sources, keeping the activity of the ensemble always stimulating and full of enjoyable surprises. The members of La Venexiana are some of the most experienced European performers in the early music field, especially in the Italian madrigal repertoire. They have sung together in the most famous festivals and concert series throughout the word: from the MusikVerein'Golden Hall in Vienna to De Singel in Antwerpen, from the Brugge Festival to  Barcellona, Bruxelles, Utrecht, Strasbourg, Amiens, passing through San Sebastian, Mexico City, Tokyo, New York, Bogotà, San Francisco, Tucson, San Diego, Seattle, they have everywhere been highly praised. Recordings