Hespèrion XXI

Dinastia Borgia
Church and Power in the Renaissance
Montserrat Figueras (soprano), Lior Elmaleh (cantor), Driss El Maloumi (chant and oud) and others, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Hespèrion XXI, director: Jordi Savall
3 SACDs + 1 DVD
Alia Vox/harmonia mundi AVSA 9875

United in a common pursuit - studying and performing early music from a fresh contemporary approach - and fascinated by the immense wealth of the Hispanic and European musical repertoire dating back to before 1800, Jordi Savall (bowed string instruments), Montserrat Figueras (voice), Lorenzo Alpert (wind and percussion instruments) and Hopkinson Smith (plucked string instruments) founded the ensemble Hespèrion XX in 1974, devoted to performing and highlighting the value of certain essential aspects of that repertoire. For over thirty years now, Hespèrion XX has remained true to that initial vision, performing numerous previously unperformed works and programmes of works, and giving many concerts in Europe and America. Hespèrion XX has also appeared regularly in all the main music festivals at home and abroad, particularly early-music festivals.

With the coming of the new millennium, Hespèrion is still at work as a hands-on research instrument, and as such has updated the ensemble's name by adding the number of the new century we are now in: the group is now called HESPÈRION XXI. The eclectic way artistic decisions are taken has always been the keynote of Hespèrion's spirit. This has led the group to perform a large number of Hispanic pieces from medieval times, along with English baroque and renaissance music by Dowland, Tye, Coprario, etc. The ensemble also plays other European repertoires that are mostly unknown to the general public, thus making a contribution to the popularisation of the composers involved. Hespèrion XXI is doing also an important work with the rediscover of the musical heritage of Jewish and Sephardic repertory, musics from the Ottoman and Armenic traditions, as well as Creole Folias and Villancicos from Latin American Country.