GESUALDO CONSORT AMSTERDAM

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam is named after Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (ca. 1561-1613). Gesualdo was an experimental composer with a highly personal means of expression. The consort strives to emulate Gesualdo's extraordinary expressiveness in programming and performing its repertoire. The group focuses on unaccompanied madrigals of the sixteenth and seventeenth ...
Full biography

Members

Stephanie Petitlaurent   sopraan
Nele Gramss   sopraan
Marnix De Cat   countertenor
Marcel Beekman   tenor
Harry van Berne   tenor
Koen van Stade   tenor
Harry van der Kamp   bas
More results Less results

Mentioned in the biography of

2000   Pieter-Jan Belder
2011   Musica Amphion

Awards

2010   VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijs

Biography Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam is named after Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (ca. 1561-1613). Gesualdo was an experimental composer with a highly personal means of expression. The consort strives to emulate Gesualdo's extraordinary expressiveness in programming and performing its repertoire. The group focuses on unaccompanied madrigals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Where possible, they link these to later music. Various contemporary composers have dedicated pieces to the consort. The consort shows a penchant on many of its CDs for presenting previously unrecorded music and has been acclaimed in the media for the high quality of its singing (Fono Forum, September 2006, and Gramophone, February 2006) and the clarity of its interpretations (Diapason, September 2006). The group performs throughout Europe.

1984

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam is founded by Harry van der Kamp. The group has a steady core of singers and performs in varying combinations, with the addition of instrumentalists when needed.

1984 - 2002

The consort gives numerous performances (for example at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, the Saturday Matinee Concert series in the Concertgebouw en the Heinrich Schütz Fest) and travels regularly to European festivals. They experiment with the four- to forty-voice repertoire and often present composer portraits (Nikolaus Bruhns, Georg Böhm, Franz Tunder, and others).

1988

It is among the performers for the television Teleac course “Muziek in de Nederlanden”. Some of these recordings are later issued separately by the Emergo label.

1997

At the Eems-Dollard Festival, the consort performs a programme focusing on Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Through this performance, the idea of recording Sweelinck's complete vocal works becomes more firm. In the next few years, contact is made with various partners -- such as the NPS [Netherlands Programme Foundation] and Radio 4 -- in the project.

2002

The world premiere CD of Emilio de Cavalieri's complete 'Lamentationes Ieremiae Prophetae' is issued.

2003

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam makes a recording of music by C.P.E. Bach (motets and psalms) and J.S. Bach ('Contrapunctus XIX' from 'The Art of the Fugue'). The latter work is a world premiere done in collaboration with the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig. The consort also records Scipione Lacorcia's third book of madrigals, another world premiere. They begin recording Sweelinck's secular vocal works as part of “Het Sweelinck Monument”, the complete vocal works project.

2004

During the Leipzig Bach Festival, the consort performs music by J.S. Bach and J.P. Sweelinck at Bach's St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.

2005

The authoritative CD magazine Gramophone calls the recording of Gesualdo's first three books of madrigals a milestone in the Gesualdo discography.

2006

The CD with world premiere recordings of works by C.P.E. and J.S. Bach is awarded the Echo Klassik Preis 2006. The consort's performance of the “Musica Vulcanica” programme at the Early Music Festival in Utrecht is lauded in the press as the best concert in the festival's 25-year existence.

2007

The consort is nominated for an Edison Klassiek award for its Musica Vulcanica CD. At the Leipzig Bach Festival it gives a madrigal concert titled “The eternal youth of the madrigal”. They perform at the presentation of the Leipziger Bach Preis to Nikolaus Harnoncourt. A concert is given in the picturesque surroundings of the Antiquarium in Munich.

2008

The consort comes into contact with the Spanish CD label Glossa, which commits itself to producing “Het Sweelinck Monument” project. A decision is made to issue the recordings first in a complete Dutch edition, in book form. An international CD edition will follow. The first part, “De wereldlijke werken” [The secular works], is released in October.

2009

Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam wins an Edison for the first CD of “Het Sweelinck Monument”. “With one voice per part, they give the French chansons and Italian madrigals a marvellous, lucid interpretation.” (Guido van Oorschot, Edison Klassiek jury report) The consort completes the recordings for “Het Sweelinck Monument” in the summer. In December, Radio 4 listeners select part 2a of the series (the First Book of Psalms, 1604) as the “best CD of the year” in the early music category.

2010

Part 1 of “Het Sweelinck Monument” is nominated for the MIDEM Classical Award. On October 24 the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam is awarded the VSCD Classical Music Prize 2010.

Photos Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam

Audio/Video Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam