Quadrivium


+32 (0) 3 236 66 32

EN

Quadrivium is an ensemble specializing in late-medieval music, particularly the Franco-Flemish repertoire of the 14th- and 15th centuries. This refined and complex repertoire is brought to life via a specialized medieval instrumentarium. The ensemble brings a deep level of understaning and intuitive emotional interpretation to the music, while ensuring historical correctness under the watchful eye of musicologist/lutenist Willem Mook.

In medieval times, the Quadrivium represented the four ‘higher’ arts (arithmetica, geometrica, astronomia and musica.) The ensemble Quadrivium unites four colors of the medieval musical palette: voice, (Ellen Delahanty), recorder, (Geert Van Gele), harp, (Bill Taylor), and lute, (Willem Mook). With their unique historical instrumentarium, Quadrivium charms the audience with a wide array of delicate instrumental colors, typical for the early polyphony of the middle ages and early renaissance.

The ensemble’s first CD appeared in 2009, presenting their succesful concert program ‘La Cause est Amer’. In this program, medieval love poems from Japan, composed for Quadrivium by Belgian composer Janpieter Biesemans, are paired with medieval art songs from the Low Countries. Building on this success formula, Quadrivium is planning its next program with music from Spain, coupled with music set to a poem of Jorge Manrique, also by Biesemans. For this program, the ensemble will be expanded to feature tenor Jan Van Elsacker as well as Maaike Boekholt on vielle.