Triphonia

Triphonia  Ensemble for Medieval Music Berlin Amanda Simmons, Gaby Bultmann, and Leila Schoeneich founded Ensemble Triphonia in 2004 because of their mutual passion for medieval music. They studied in Berlin, Amsterdam, Milano and Bloomington/USA. It is their wish is to perform this music, with all its variegation and expressivity, in such a way that listeners may better understand and enjoy their experience. Triphonia developed a performance style based on the use of original sources and research, together with the desire to improvise and discover new possibilities of variation, a practice which also played a great roll in performance practice in the Middle Ages. Triphonia has since created various thematic concert programs, for example a musical pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with many musical stations along the way from Bingen on the Rhine river via Paris, southern France, and northern Spain (this program is also in a scenic version with projected pictures, dialogues, and props) or the Christmas program “Mit vrouden quam engel“ (The angel came rejoicing) with gregorian chant and medieval songs from Germany, England, Italy, and France. One of Triphonia‘s main emphases is in the use of many different combinations of instruments in their accompaniments of the mostly monophonic melodies, as well as the reconstruction of lost melodies through the use of related sources. Ensemble Triphonia utilizes a wide range of instruments: romanesque harp, psaltery, medieval recorders, pipe and tabor, stringed tabor, vielle, medieval brass bells, portative organ, hurdy-gurdy, medieval dulcimer, and various percussion instruments. Along with an occasional purely instrumental piece – partially self-composed in the style of existing medieval pieces – Triphonia places the highest priority on the instrumentation and accompaniment of the vocal songs. Various techniques are applied to accompany the solo voice or instrument such as drones or additional improvised vocal or instrumental parts, creating a unique polyphonic, heterophonic, or homophonic version of an original monophonic melody.