The Early Music Podcast

In this last episode, Darina meets the artistic director of the Zefiro Torna ensemble, Jurgen De Bruyn, to discuss the shift towards ecological awareness and the collaborative approach as an example of interest in and respect for other cultures. In the course of this conversation, Jurgen de Bruyn mentions a project he launched during the Covid-19 pandemic about ecological sustainability and how th...

In this episode, Darina talks to three female guests, Laura Granero, Hannah Ely and Aino Peltomma, who share their views on diversity in their country and the inspiration they draw from influential women of the past. We look at what it meant to be a musician in the 19th century, what it meant to have a traditional upbringing in Victorian England, and how religious dynamics influenced women artists...

With the director of the early music department at the Royal Conservatory The Hague, Teunis van der Zwart, we discuss the challenges of making a conservatoire more diverse and inclusive safe space, as well as open to interdepartmental collaborations. Finally, we find out how the lives of students and teachers can be made safer in an institution, and look at the development of music conservatoires...

How do we tackle gender equality issues in our sector? How do we deal with problematic texts of music works? Lila Hajosi, director of Ensemble Irini and co-founder of the French network #EllesDirigent, which supports women ensemble directors, will share her views on the challenges raised by these issues and the importance of creating an atmosphere of collaboration. CREDITS guest Lila Hajosi, Ensem...

This episode is devoted to a guest straight from America: Karin Cuéllar Rendón, from the Early Music America network, historic Bolivian violinist, researcher and social justice advocate. Together with Darina, they will discuss issues of inclusivity and diversity in the field of early music, as well as interaction with the LGBTQI+ community and enlarging audiences, resources and funding. CREDITS gu...

In this episode, Jan Van den Borre, artistic director of MA Festival Brugge, presents his approach to programming one of the oldest early music festivals in the world. We talk about communication, mediation and engagement of the audience, the importance of empathy and respect in relationships with artists, and the challenges raised by today's genre definitions. CREDITS guest Jan Van den Borre, MAf...

Anna Karinsdotter, managing director of Drottningholm Theatre in Sweden, shares in this episode the strategies used by the Theatre to be more effective and inclusive in terms of audiences, and how this artistic genre is taking steps to include children and artists with special needs in a baroque opera performance. CREDITS guest Anna Karinsdotter, Drottningholms Slottsteater interview & editing...

This episode is devoted to the EEEmerging programme and its lasting change, openness to mental health issues and the mid-career diversion of professional musicians. Isabelle Battioni, director of the Centre culturel de rencontre d'Ambronay, shares her rich professional experience on these current issues. CREDITS guest Isabelle Battioni, Centre culturel de rencontre d’Ambronay interview & editi...

In this episode, we're off to discover the traditions of historical queer theatre and the problem of ‘ideological’ traditionalist practices in music. Darina will discuss the possibility of re-examining the original texts with members of the ĀRT HOUSE 17 ensemble: Michael Hell, Thomas Höft and Georg Krones. CREDITS guests Michael Hell, Thomas Höft and Georg Krones, ĀRT HOUSE 17 interview & edit...

In this first episode, Darina shares a discussion with the artistic director of the ECOS festival and director of the Cantoría vocal ensemble, Jorge Losana, about the evolution of the young festival he organises, keeping in mind his unique approach to awareness-raising, repertoires diversity, and an empathetic and inclusive attitude towards the audience. CREDITS guest Jorge Losana, ECOS Festival&n...

Hello and welcome to the last special episode of the 4th season of the Early Music Podcast, dedicated to the impressions shared by the participants of the Early Music Summit with host Darina Ablogina.   CREDITS guests  Richard Lorber, WDR and the Early Music Days in Herne Mélanie Froehly, ZAMUS Thomas Höft and Georg Kroneis, Kunsthaus 17 Lila Hajosi, Ensemble Irini Jorge Losana, ECO...

In a branch of music where research plays such a central role, how can there be such a disconnection between research and performance? How can we create cooperation between both fields? These themes, according to Rebekah Ahrendt, are central in "EarlyMuse", a research action funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). Listen to her describe her ideal world in this final ep...

How early music can be specific in its approach to new audiences? How are conservatoires tackling this issue? Isaac Alonso de Molina shares his views on the need for conservatoires to teach audience development, as the first step to develop the artists' skills to engage with society, and a focal point of the European Association of Conservatoires' Early Music working group discussions.  CREDI...

What’s the situation of inclusion in the Early Music sector? In this episode, countertenor Reginald Mobley puts the issues of race, gender, and more generally, identity under the spotlight. He talks about the challenges and discrimination he faced as an Afro-American singer, and opens our eyes to the progress that still needs to be made to make the sector more inclusive.    CREDITS...

What’s the current situation of recordings in Early Music? How can we innovate in a sector that has undergone such change in recent years? Listen to Hannelore Guittet’s view on the topic: starting as co-founder of recording label NomadMusic, she had to adapt to drastic changes in the recording industry and created interactive application NomadPlay. She shares some of her processes and reflects on...

In this episode, Tiago Simas Freire discusses how research is also a means of connecting the past with present emotions. More than historically informed, Early Music can be culturally informed and resonate with our own experiences. And that’s the first step for successful research projects that will breach the market!  CREDITS guest  Tiago Simas Freire, "Per esercitarsi nella disposition...

How do we create and innovate in early music today? How do we reappropriate music that has been played thousands of times? Raphaël Pichon puts honesty, generosity, objectivity and responsibility at the heart of his work with the Pygmalion ensemble. In this 4th episode, he shares his views on the challenges faced by each generation, the need for an open mind and artistic responsibility.  CREDI...

What role do agents play in promoting early music? How can they help the sector evolve? Management, digitization, new expectations, news skills... Clémentine Richard from l'Agence Artist Management shares her views on the changes in the management business in this third episode of the Early Music Podcast.  CREDITS guest  Clementine Richard, Agence Artist Management interview & editin...

What’s the scope of early music? This unanswerable question impacts our practices and our approaches to the sector. Since reaching a common definition seems idealistic, why not embrace the different meanings given to these words, and what they imply for their supporters and their activities? In this second episode, Romina Lischka shares her specific vision of early music, influenced by an intercul...

How can Europe contribute to strenghten the early music scene? How can cultural policies be regulated at European level when culture is so specific to one country? What are the concrete impacts of European policies at the level of a country, a network, a town, etc.? In this first episode, Rarita Zbranca explains the repercussions of EU policies on the Romanian cultural scene, using the Cluj Cultur...

Does music get suddenly better when it’s linked to the Borgia family, or are we ok with anonymously composed pieces? In this final episode of the season, musicologist Laurie Stras introduces us to an enigmatic composer: Suor Maria Celeste (1600-1634), illegitimate daughter of the Italian scientist Galileo, and a Florentine nun of the early 17th century. She was the illegitimate daughter of the Ita...

Probably a XIXth century woman couldn’t contribute significantly as an artist, composer or concert organizer, right? And if we apply the critical eye of early music to more recent times, what do we get? Here we take a step aside to discover the work of Clara Wieck-Schumann (1819-1896), a genius pianist and talented composer, overshadowed by a composer husband at a time when married women were kept...

How are you an artist when you are just following a tradition and reading a score? With this eighth episode, Björn Schmelzer takes us on a journey of discovery of medieval sacred music and the oral tradition. This episode a dive into the revival of early music in the XXᵉ century and is dedicated to the French composer and writer Guillaume de Machaut from the XIVᵉ century, whose famous  Messe...

How could we possibly top the perfection that is a masterpiece like Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas ? In this seventh episode, composer Errollyn Wallen presents her opera Dido's Ghost , a sequel to Henry Purcell's (1659-1695) semi-opera  Dido and Æneas . At a time when the Baroque and the performing arts were flourishing in England, Purcell's work offered his contemporaries a delightful spectacle...

What is so fascinating about some medieval nun’s songs? Better known for her important work as a naturalist and physician, Abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) also composed more than one hundred and fifty liturgical songs and melodies, which were rediscovered in the late 1970s by the ensemble Sequentia and its two directors, Barbara Thornton and Benjamin Bagby. In this sixth episode, Bagby tel...