Anonymous 4

Anonymous 4

Anonymous 4 in October, 2012
Background information
Genres A cappella, Medieval
Years active 1992 (1992)–2016 (2016)
Labels Harmonia Mundi, Sony Classical Records
Associated acts Bruce Molsky, The Mountain Goats
Website www.anonymous4.com
Members Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Ruth Cunningham, Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Past members Johanna Maria Rose

Anonymous 4 are an American female a cappella quartet, based in New York City. Their main performance genre is medieval music, although they have also premiered works by recent composers such as John Tavener and Steve Reich.

The name of the group is a pun on the name used to refer to an anonymous English music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin, and Pérotin.

Anonymous 4 have performed in cities throughout North America, and have been regulars at major international festivals. They decided to make the 2003–2004 season their last as a full-time recording and touring ensemble, but have continued to tour and make recordings while pursuing individual projects. The CD 1865, which features songs from the Civil War with Bruce Molsky on guitar, fiddle, banjo, and vocals will be their last recording together, as the ensemble will be disbanding for good by the end of the 2015–2016 season.[1]

The group collaborated with the Chilingirian Quartet on their 2003 album Darkness Into Light and The Mountain Goats on their 2012 album Transcendental Youth as well as with Christopher Tin in 2009 on his album Calling All Dawns, and in 2014 on The Drop That Contained the Sea.

Lineup

The group currently comprises Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Ruth Cunningham, and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek. The original lineup included Johanna Maria Rose but not Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek. In 1998, Cunningham left and was replaced by Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek. In 2008, Cunningham returned to the group in place of Johanna Maria Rose. Genensky grew up in California in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains; Hellauer was born and raised in the Bronx, New York; Cunningham was brought up in Millbrook, New York; Rose grew up in the village of Grand View-on-Hudson, New York; and Horner-Kwiatek is from Monkstown, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland (she won her Green Card in the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, commonly known as the "Green Card Lottery").

Discography

Name Date Label Format
An English Ladymass1993Harmonia MundiCD
On Yoolis Night1993Harmonia MundiCD
Love's Illusion1994Harmonia MundiCD
The Lily and the Lamb1994Harmonia MundiCD
Voices of Light1995Sony Classical RecordsCD
Miracles of Sant'Iago1996Harmonia MundiCD
A Star in the East1996Harmonia MundiCD
Portrait of Anonymous 41997Harmonia MundiCD
11,000 Virgins: Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula1997Harmonia MundiCD
A Lammas Ladymass: 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony1998Harmonia MundiCD
Legends of St. Nicholas1999Harmonia MundiCD
1000: A Mass for the End of Time1999Harmonia MundiCD
The Second Circle: Love Songs of Francesco Landini2001Harmonia MundiCD
La bele Marie: Songs to the Virgin from 13th-Century France2002Harmonia MundiCD
Darkness into Light2003Harmonia MundiCD
Wolcum Yule2003Harmonia MundiCD
American Angels2004Harmonia MundiCD
The Origin of Fire: Hildegard von Bingen2005Harmonia MundiCD
Gloryland2006Harmonia MundiCD
Four Centuries of Chant2009Harmonia MundiCD
The Cherry Tree2010Harmonia MundiCD
Secret Voices: Chant & Polyphony from the Las Huelgas Codex, c. 13002011Harmonia MundiCD
Marie et Marion2014Harmonia MundiCD
love fail2014CanteloupeCD ( A work composed for the group by David Lang using texts by such writers as Lydia Davis )
18652015Harmonia MundiCD

References

  1. ↑ "Anonymous 4: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (But They're Doing It)". National Public Radio. 2014. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
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