Aventure Ensemble for Medieval Music Christopher Kale voice Marco Magalhães recorder Fumitaka Saito recorder Ita Hijmans recorder Aventure performs late-medieval music. Our performances are based on research focusing on the individuality of a particular musical idiom and the cultural and historic context in which it existed. Aventure sees late-medieval music, not as an isolated art form, but as one aspect of an entire culture. This vision, and our experimental investigation of the performance practice of instrumental ensemble music from the 15th century, makes Aventure a unique ensemble.
Aventure, founded in 1993, was awarded an honorable mention during the Musica Antiqua Concours in Bruges (B). The ensemble has performed on leading international podia such as Les Académies musicales de Saintes (F), Varna International Music Summerfestival (Bulgaria), Festival van Vlaanderen (B) and the Netwerk voor Oude Muziek (NL) with programs varying from the narrative songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein (CD O, snode welt, AC Classics, 1995) to Dutch polyphony from the Koning Manuscript (CD’s Adieu, naturlic leven mijn; Ons is een kijnt geboren, Challenge Records, 2007).
Since 2007, Aventure has focused on the music from Europe north of the Alps in the 15th century. In annual concert series, the ensemble has performed unexplored music from the Aosta Manuscript, the Basel Songbooks, the Codex Sankt Emmeram, Codex Breslau, Leopold Codex, the Schedel Songbook, the Sagan Partbooks and several Trent Codices, among others. But the monody from sources such as the Gruuthuse Manuscript, the Mönch-repertoire and various Cantionales from north of the Alps also belongs in our repertoire.
Aventure annually offers workshops or summer schools. In 2015/16 Aventure carried out an interdisciplinary research project Filling the gap. The reconstruction of a mid-15thcentury recorder consort, more here: www.fillingthegapreconstructionproject.wordpress.com.
Aventure works with a flexible cast of 3-7 musicians, depending on the performed repertoire. Ita Hijmans is artistic director and responsible for research and programming.