Musica ad Rhenum

Musica ad Rhenum, founded in 1991 by a group of enthusiastic young musicians specialized in the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on period instruments, has performed for radio, television and in concerts throughout Europe as well as in festivals in Spain, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Brazil and Argentina. The group's name - latin for Music on the Rhine - reflects the determination of its members to combine the latest musicological research and playing styles associated with the Rhenish cities Basel and Cologne with their own vision of authentic Baroque performance practice.  The ensemble's emphasis on musicological research, however, does not exclude the element of personal expression from their playing style.  As one reviewer put it: “Musica ad Rhenum is more than just a musicological experiment. The results of research express themselves in joyful and convincing performances full of swager and daring”.
In thus combining musicology and personal inspiration to achieve a moving musical experience, the musicians of Musica ad Rhenum are following the advice of the English poet Dryden, who, in his Essay on Dramatic Poesy (1684) wrote that art should be follow nature, not slavishly on foot, but rather, with unbridled imagination and fantasy, mounted on the back of winged Pegasus.