List of early music ensembles
An early music ensemble is a musical ensemble that specializes in performing early music of the European classical tradition from the Baroque era and earlier — broadly, music produced before about 1750. Most, but not all, of these groups are advocates of "historically informed performance", and attempt to re-create the music as it might have sounded at the time it was written, using period instruments and modifying playing techniques according to the most recent scholarly research into music of the time.
Ensembles listed below generally have produced a substantial output of commercially available recordings. Some of these groups "cross over" into other genres, such as folk music or contemporary classical music. Names in parentheses indicate current directors, unless otherwise indicated.
List of ensembles
- A Sei Voci (Bernard Fabre-Garrus d.2006), France: vocal sextet
- Académie Baroque de Montréal (Suzie LeBlanc), Canada
- Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood founder, then Andrew Manze, currently Richard Egarr), UK: baroque orchestra
- Accademia Bizantina (Ottavio Dantone), Italy: baroque orchestra
- Accademia Daniel (Shalev Ad-El), Israel: baroque chamber group
- Accentus Austria (Thomas Wimmer), Austria, : baroque chamber group
- Accordone (Guido Morini), Italy: early baroque, often with Marco Beasley
- Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Germany: baroque orchestra
- Al Ayre Español (Eduardo López Banzo), Spain: baroque orchestra
- Alamire (David Skinner (musicologist)), UK: vocal consort
- Alla Francesca (Pierre Hamon with Brigitte Lesne), France: medieval
- Altramar [1], USA
- American Bach Soloists (Jeffrey Thomas), USA
- American Baroque [2], USA
- Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir (Ton Koopman): baroque orchestra
- Anonymous 4, USA: all-female a cappella ensemble specializing in medieval music
- Apollo's Fire (Jeannette Sorrell) [3] Cleveland, USA
- Arìon Choir & Consort - (it: Collegio Ghislieri di Pavia) (Giulio Prandi), Italy: baroque choir & orchestra
- Arion Orchestre Baroque (Claire Guimond), Montreal, Canada
- L'Arpeggiata (Christina Pluhar), France: early baroque
- Ars Antiqua Austria (Gunnar Letzbor) [4]
- Ars Antiqua de Paris, trio, France
- Ars Barocca, Bulgaria
- Ars Cantus, Poland
- Ars Nova Copenhagen (Paul Hillier), Denmark: renaissance to contemporary
- Artek Early Music, [5] New York City
- Les Arts Florissants (William Christie), France: baroque orchestra
- Asteria Medievale, duo, NYC: renaissance chansons
- Atrium Musicae de Madrid (Gregorio Paniagua), Spain
- Auser Musici (Carlo Ipata), Italy: baroque orchestra
- Ausonia (ensemble) France: baroque chamber
- Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (Paul Dyer): baroque orchestra
- Avison Ensemble (Gordon Dixon), UK: baroque orchestra
- Ayres and Graces, [6] Munich, Germany: Renaissance madrigals
- Bach Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki), Kobe: Bach
- Bach Ensemble (Joshua Rifkin), USA: baroque soloists and orchestra
- Bach Sinfonia (Daniel Abraham) [7] Maryland, USA
- Baltimore Consort, USA
- B'Rock, [8] Belgium Baroque orchestra
- I Barocchisti (Diego Fasolis), Switzerland: baroque orchestra
- Boston Baroque (Martin Pearlman), USA: baroque orchestra
- Boston Camerata (Joel Cohen), USA
- Boulanger Ensemble (Nadia Boulanger), France: historic revival of Monteverdi
- Bourbon Baroque (Nicolas Fortin and John Austin Clark), USA: baroque orchestra
- Brabant Ensemble (Stephen Rice (conductor)), UK: renaissance choral
- Brandenburg Consort (Roy Goodman), UK: baroque orchestra
- Broadside Band (Jeremy Barlow), UK
- Byrd Ensemble (Markdavin Obenza), Seattle, WA, USA
- Café Zimmermann (Pablo Valetti) France: baroque chamber ensemble
- Camerata Bern (Antje Weithaas), Switzerland: Chamber orchestra
- Camerata Köln, [9] Germany: baroque chamber ensemble
- Camerata Mediterranea (Joel Cohen), USA
- Camerata Trajectina, Utrecht: renaissance and baroque Dutch music
- Cancionero, Kent, UK
- Cantilena (Adrian Shepherd), UK: baroque on modern instruments
- Cantus Cölln (Konrad Junghänel), Germany: renaissance and baroque vocal
- Capella de Ministrers (Carles Magraner), Spain: medieval to baroque
- Capella Ducale Venetia (Livio Picotti), Italy: baroque orchestra, winds and choir
- La Capella Ducale Musica Fiata (Roland Wilson (conductor)), Germany
- La Capella Reial de Catalunya (Jordi Savall), Spain
- Capilla Cayrasco & Camerata Cayrasco (Eligio Luis Quinteiro),[10], Spain
- Capilla Flamenca (Dirk Snellings), Belgium: renaissance choral
- Capilla Peñaflorida, Spain: renaissance choral
- Capilla Renacentista (Pilar Alvira), Spain
- Cappella Augustana (Matteo Messori), Italy
- Cappella della Pietà de' Turchini (Antonio Florio), Italy: baroque orchestra
- Cappella Mediterranea, (Leonardo García-Alarcón)
- Capriccio Stravagante (Skip Sempé), France: baroque chamber music
- Cardinall's Musick (Andrew Carwood), UK: choir
- Carolina Pro Musica (Karen Hite Jacob), North Carolina, USA: early instruments and voice
- Le Cercle de l'Harmonie (Jérémie Rhorer), France: Mozart
- Les Agrémens ´(Guy van Waas), Belgium
- Chanticleer, USA: choir
- La Chapelle Ducale (Maéva Bouachrine), France
- La Chapelle Rhénane (Benoît Haller), France: baroque orchestra and choir
- La Chapelle Royale (Philippe Herreweghe), France: baroque orchestra
- Charivari Agréable (Kah-Ming Ng), UK: Period instrument ensemble
- The Charlotte Waites (John Burns), North Carolina, USA: Renaissance to early Baroque town band
- Chœur de Chambre Accentus (Laurence Equilbey), France: renaissance to contemporary choir
- Ciaramella [11], USA
- Cinco Siglos [12], Spain
- Cinquecento vocal quintet, Munich: renaissance choral
- City of Lincoln Waites: the Mayor of Lincoln's own 'Band of Musick', UK
- City Waites (inc.Lucie Skeaping), UK: medieval to baroque English music and folk
- Clemencic Consort (René Clemencic), Austria: medieval to baroque
- The Clerkes Of Oxenford (David Wulstan), UK
- Clerks' Group (Edward Wickham), UK: renaissance choral
- Collegium Aureum (Franzjosef Maier), Germany: baroque orchestra
- Collegium 419: Czech Early Music Vocal Ensemble
- Collegium 1704 (Václav Luks), Czech Republic: baroque orchestra and choir
- Collegium Marianum (Jana Semerádová), Czech Republic: baroque orchestra
- Collegium Musicum 90 (Simon Standage), English Baroque orchestra
- Collegium Musicum Den Haag, Holland
- Collegium Musicum Riga, (Maris Kupcs) Latvia: baroque orchestra and choir
- Collegium Vocale Bydgoszcz (Michał Zieliński), Poland: Renaissance vocal
- Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), Belgium: renaissance and baroque choir
- Cologne Chamber Orchestra (Helmut Müller-Brühl), Germany: baroque orchestra
- Il Complesso Barocco (Alan Curtis), Italy: baroque orchestra
- Concentus Musicus Wien (Nikolaus Harnoncourt), Vienna: baroque orchestra
- Le Concert d’Astrée (Emmanuel Haïm), France: baroque orchestra
- Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall), Spain: baroque orchestra
- Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet), France: baroque orchestra
- Concerto Caledonia (David McGuinness), Scotland: baroque
- Concerto Copenhagen (Lars Ulrik Mortensen), Denmark: baroque orchestra
- Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini), Italy: madrigals and baroque orchestra
- Concerto Köln [13], Germany: baroque orchestra - guest conductors inc. Evelino Pidò, Daniel Harding etc.
- Concerto Palatino (Bruce Dickey & Charles Toet), Belgium: baroque winds
- Concerto Vocale (René Jacobs), France: baroque vocal
- The Consort of Musicke (Anthony Rooley), UK: Renaissance vocal, madrigals
- Consort Veneto, Italy
- Constantinople (ensemble) (Kiya Tabassian), Montreal: baroque and mediterranean
- Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Zagreb (Laura Vadjon)
- Currende (Erik Van Nevel), Belgium :renaissance choir
- Deller Consort (founded by Alfred Deller d.), UK: renaissance and baroque chamber
- Diabolus in Musica, (Antoine Guerber), Paris: medieval choral
- Dialogos (Katarina Livljanic), France and Croatia: medieval
- DiGrease's Buffoon Theatre [14] Minsk, Belarus: open air medieval theatre and music ensemble
- Doulce Mémoire (Denis Raisin Dadre), France: renaissance chansons
- Drolls, Petrozavodsk, Russia: medieval
- Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, Stockholm, Sweden
- Dufay Collective, UK: vocal consort, madrigals
- Duo Trobairitz, UK: medieval
- Early Music Consort of London (David Munrow d.), UK: medieval, defunct
- Early Opera Company (Christian Curnyn), UK: baroque opera
- Egidius Kwartet, Holland: renaissance vocal music
- El Cortesano[15] duo: José Hernández Pastor & Ariel Abromovich [16], Spain: baroque duo
- English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, http://www.ecse.co.uk/
- English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner): Baroque and Classical-era music
- Ensemble 415 (Chiara Banchini), France: baroque chamber orchestra
- Ensemble Alcatraz (inc. Shira Kammen), USA: medieval
- Ensemble amarcord, Leipzig, Germany, vocal ensemble, Medieval, Renaissance, Contemporary
- Ensemble baroque de Nice, (Gilbert Bezzina), Nice: baroque opera
- Ensemble Claude-Gervaise, Montréal:
- Ensemble Clément Janequin (Dominique Visse), France: renaissance chansons
- Ensemble Clematis, Leonardo García-Alarcón, Belgium: baroque
- Ensemble Discantus (Brigitte Lesne, see also Emmanuel Bonnardot, Pierre Hamon): medieval music
- Ensemble Eduard Melkus (Capella Academica Wien), Vienna: defunct
- Ensemble Electa [17], Midlands, UK
- Ensemble Elyma (Gabriel Garrido), Switzerland: baroque orchestra
- Ensemble für frühe Musik Augsburg, Germany: medieval
- Ensemble Festa Rustica, (Giorgio Matteoli), Italy: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical
- Ensemble Gilles Binchois (Dominique Vellard), France: medieval
- Ensemble Gombert [18], Melbourne, Australia
- Ensemble Inégal, [19] Czech: baroque
- Ensemble Matheus (Jean-Christophe Spinosi), France: baroque orchestra
- Ensemble Mikado [20], Vienna
- Ensemble Musica Nova (Lucien Kandel), France: vocal consort
- Ensemble Micrologus (Adolfo Broegg d.2006), Italy: medieval
- Ensemble Organum (Marcel Pérès), France: Gregorian chant
- Ensemble Renaissance, Serbia: medieval
- Ensemble Responsorium, Website, Croatia
- Ensemble Santenay, [21] Trossingen, Germany: renaissance choral
- Ensemble Unicorn (Michael Posch), Germany: medieval
- Estampie (Michael Popp), Germany: medieval
- Europa Galante (Fabio Biondi), Italy: baroque orchestra
- European Community Baroque Orchestra (Roy Goodman), EU: baroque orchestra
- Ex Cathedra (Jeffrey Skidmore), UK: choir and baroque orchestra
- I Fagiolini, UK: vocal consort, madrigals
- I Febiarmonici (Alan Curtis (harpsichordist)), Italy: madrigals
- Ferrara Ensemble (Crawford Young), Basel, Switzerland: medieval and renaissance
- Ficta (Grace Newcombe), Oxford UK: mediaeval, renaissance & baroque vocal consort
- Florilegium (Ashley Solomon), London: baroque
- Folger Consort [22], Amherst College, USA
- Les Folies Françoises (Patrick Cohën-Akenine), French: chamber ensemble
- La Follia Austin Baroque, [23] USA: baroque orchestra
- Fortune's Wheel (ensemble) [24] (inc. Shira Kammen), USA
- Four Temperaments (ensemble) quartet and Trilogue (Pawel Siwczak), Poland: baroque
- Freiburger Barockorchester (Gottfried von der Goltz), Germany: baroque orchestra
- Freiburger Spielleyt, Germany: medieval
- Fretwork, UK: viol consort
- Fuoco e cenere (Jay Bernfeld), France: early baroque chamber music
- Gabrieli Consort & Players (Paul McCreesh), UK: baroque choir and orchestra
- Gaïta (Chris Elmes) [25], Scotland
- Il Giardino Armonico (Giovanni Antonini), Milan: baroque orchestra
- Gothic Voices (Christopher Page), UK: medieval and Renaissance music
- Greensleaves, Canada: Renaissance and early Baroque
- La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy (Jean-Claude Malgoire), France
- Hamburger Ratsmusik (Simone Eckert), Germany: baroque chamber orchestra
- Handel and Haydn Society, Boston: baroque choir and orchestra
- Harmonie Universelle (Florian Deuter)[26], Germany: baroque chamber ensemble and orchestra
- The Harp Consort (Andrew Lawrence-King), UK: renaissance consort
- Helga Weber Ensemble - Instrumentalkreis Helga Weber, Germany
- Hespèrion XX/Hespèrion XXI (Jordi Savall), Spain: renaissance orchestra
- The Hilliard Ensemble (formerly directed by Paul Hillier), UK: Medieval and Renaissance and contemporary music
- His Majesty's Sackbutts and Cornetts, UK
- Hortus Musicus (Andres Mustonen), Estonia
- Huelgas Ensemble (Paul Van Nevel), Belgium: renaissance choir
- The Ivory Consort, Spain
- Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble (Arno Paduch), Germany: renaissance baroque choir and orchestra
- The King's Consort (Robert King), UK: baroque orchestra. See also Retrospect Ensemble
- King's Noyse (David Douglass), USA: renaissance and baroque chamber music
- King's Singers, UK: vocal sextet
- Kithara Ensemble (duo Christopher Wilson and Shirley Rumsey), UK: duo
- Kuninkaantien muusikot - Musicians of the King's Road, Finland: baroque orchestra and choir
- La Selva, early music ensemble based in Rome, Italy
- London Baroque (founded in 1978 by Ingrid Seifert and Charles Medlam), UK: baroque chamber orchestra
- Lumen Valo [27], Helsinki, Finland
- Lux Musica trio (Linda Burman-Hall), USA
- Magnificat Baroque Ensemble (Warren Stewart), USA
- Magpie Lane, Oxfordshire UK: folk band
- Mala Punica (Pedro Memelsdorff), Italy: medieval
- La Maurache, France: renaissance chansons
- The Martin Best Medieval Ensemble (Martin Best), UK
- Medieval Ensemble of London (Peter & Timothy Davies), UK
- Modo Antiquo (Bettina Hoffmann and Federico Maria Sardelli), Italy: medieval music to baroque orchestra
- Les Muffatti (Peter Van Heyghen), Brussels: Baroque orchestra
- Münchener Bach-Orchester, Germany, founder (Karl Richter)
- Music of the Baroque (Jane Glover), Chicago
- Musica Aeterna Bratislava,[28] Slovakia (Peter Zajícek): period instrument ensemble
- Música Antigua (Eduardo Paniagua), Spain: medieval, cantigas
- Musica Antiqua Köln (formerly Reinhard Goebel), Germany: Baroque chamber music
- Musica Antiqua of London (Philip Thorby), UK: renaissance
- Musica Fiata (Roland Wilson (conductor)), Germany: baroque wind orchestra
- Musica Ficta (Colombia) (Carlos Serrano) : Latin American baroque
- Musica Ficta (Denmark) (Bo Holten) : renaissance and contemporary choral
- Musica Ficta (Spain) (Raúl Mallavibarrena) :renaissance choral
- Musica Glorifica (Jin Kim), Seoul, Korea
- Musica Reservata Barcelona, Spain: renaissance choral
- Musica Reservata of London, (John S. Beckett)
- Les Musiciens du Louvre (Marc Minkowski), Grenoble: baroque orchestra
- La Nef, Quebec: medieval and renaissance
- New London Consort (Philip Pickett), UK: medieval to baroque orchestra
- New York Collegium (Andrew Parrott), USA
- New York Pro Musica Antiqua (Noah Greenberg d.1966, then John Reeves White to 1974), USA: choir
- Newberry Consort, at the Newberry Library, USA: baroque chamber.
- Obsidienne (Emmanuel Bonnardot), France: medieval
- Olde Hansa Musicus, Estonia
- Oliphant, Finland: medieval music
- Oni Wytars (Marco Ambrosini and Peter Rabanser), Germany: medieval music
- Opera Lafayette [29], USA: opera before 1800.
- Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, UK: baroque orchestra
- Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (Frans Brüggen), Holland: baroque orchestra
- Orchestra of the Renaissance (Richard Cheetham), UK: renaissance choir
- L'Orfeo Barockorchester, (Michi Gaigg), Germany: baroque orchestra
- Orion Consort, (Daniel Cooper) [30], Australia: medieval and renaissance ensemble
- Orlando Consort, UK: vocal quartet
- Oxford Camerata (Jeremy Summerly), UK: renaissance choral
- Palladian Ensemble, British instrumental ensemble (co-founded by Rachel Podger)
- Pantagruel Renaissance Musicke trio, Germany
- Le Parlement de Musique, (Martin Gester), France: baroque orchestra
- The Parley of Instruments (Roy Goodman), UK: baroque orchestra
- Passamezzo,[31] (Tamsin Lewis), UK: Renaissance ensemble
- Orchestre Les Passions (Jean-Marc Andrieu), France: orchestra
- La Petite Bande (Sigiswald Kuijken), Belgium: baroque orchestra and chamber ensemble
- Phantasm, UK: viol consort
- Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan), USA: baroque orchestra
- Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (Philip Jones), UK: brass quintet
- Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, Philadelphia, USA
- Le Poème Harmonique (Vincent Dumestre), France: renaissance-baroque chamber group
- Polish Baroque Orchestra (Krzysztof Czerwinski), Poland
- Polyphony (Choir) (Stephen Layton), UK: renaissance, romantic and contemporary music
- Pomerium,[32] (Benjamin Blachly), NYC: Renaissance vocal ensemble
- Pro Anima (Gennadiy Golstein), Leningrad: 1980s, now disbanded.
- Pro Cantione Antiqua (Bruno Turner), UK: renaissance choral
- Project Ars Nova P.A.N. (inc Crawford Young), USA: medieval
- Quadriga Consort (Nikolaus Newerkla), Austria: emphasis on early British traditional and popular music
- Quatuor Mosaïques (founded in 1985 by members of Concentus Musicus Wien) Vienna.
- Raglan Baroque Players (Nicholas Kraemer), UK: baroque orchestra
- Red Byrd, UK: vocal quintet
- Red Priest, UK: baroque orchestra, specializing in Vivaldi
- Rheinische Kantorei & Das Kleine Konzert (Hermann Max), Germany: Baroque choir and orchestra
- Renaissance Consort Hungary [33], Hungary
- Renaissance Music Group, Liverpool [34], Amateur Early Music Choir in Liverpool, England
- Retrospect Ensemble (Matthew Halls), UK: baroque orchestra
- La Reverdie (Claudia Caffagni, Livia Caffagni), Italy: medieval
- Ricercar Consort (Philippe Pierlot), Belgium: baroque cantatas
- Rose Consort of Viols, UK:
- Rose Ensemble (Jordan Sramek) [35] St. Paul, USA
- St George's Canzona (John Sothcott), UK: choir
- Sarband, Germany: baroque orchestra
- Students of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Rene Jacobs), based in Basel, Switzerland: medieval to baroque
- Schola Cantorum Riga, [36] Latvia: medieval to contemporary
- Sequentia (Benjamin Bagby), Germany: medieval
- La Serenissima (Adrian Chandler) [37], UK: baroque orchestra, Vivaldi
- La Simphonie du Marais (Hugo Reyne), France: baroque opera and orchestra
- Sirinu quartet, UK: medieval
- The Sixteen (Harry Christophers), UK: mostly a cappella music of the Renaissance, with baroque orchestra for Handel
- Sligo Early Music Ensemble, Ireland
- Solistes de Musique Ancienne, (Joel Newsome) UK: baroque orchestra and choir
- I Solisti Veneti (Claudio Scimone b.1934), Italy: baroque orchestra on modern instruments
- La Stagione (Michael Schneider (conductor)), Frankfurt, Germany: baroque orchestra
- Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (Christopher Jackson), Canada: mostly music of the Renaissance and early Baroque
- Studio der frühen Musik (Thomas Binkley d.), Munich: medieval, disbanded.
- Tafelmusik (Jeanne Lamon), Toronto: baroque orchestra and chamber choir
- Les Talens Lyriques (Christophe Rousset), France: baroque opera and orchestra
- Tallis Choir (Peter Mahon), Toronto
- Tallis Scholars (Peter Phillips): a cappella Renaissance music
- Taverner Consort and Players (Andrew Parrott), UK: renaissance choir and baroque orchestra
- Telemann-Kammerorchester Michaelstein (Ludger Rémy), Germany: baroque orchestra
- The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock founder, then Andrew Manze, now Harry Bicket), UK
- La Tempesta (Jakub Burzynski), Poland: baroque orchestra
- Students of the Texas Early Music Project, [38] USA
- The Rare Byrds, NZ: vocal and instrumental ensemble: Medieval and Renaissance
- The Rare Fruit Council (Manfredo Kraemer and Pablo Valetti) baroque chamber ensemble
- Theatre of Voices, UK: vocal consort
- Tonus Peregrinus (Antony Pitts), UK: renaissance and contemporary choir
- Toronto Consort, [39] Canada: renaissance and baroque
- Trinity Baroque, vocal ensemble Trinity College, Cambridge, UK
- Utah Baroque Ensemble (Martha Sargent), [40] USA: choir
- La Venexiana (Claudio Cavina), Italy: madrigals
- Venice Baroque Orchestra, Italy (Andrea Marcon)
- Virginia Tech Early Music Ensemble, USA
- Waverly Consort (Michael Jaffee), USA: renaissance
- Weser-Renaissance Bremen (Manfred Cordes), Germany: renaissance and baroque
- Westminster Abbey Choir (Simon Preston), UK
- Westminster Cathedral Choir (David Hill (choral director)), UK
- The York Waits, UK
- Zefiro Torna, Belgium: baroque chamber orchestra