The Baltimore Consort is a musical ensemble that performs a wide variety of

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

Renaissance music Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...

and music from later periods. They began in 1980 as a group specializing in music of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

period, but soon expanded their repertoire to include Scottish music,

broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between the ...

s, and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, French, and other European music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Their music bridges the genres of classical and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

History

The Baltimore Consort was founded by

Roger Harmon Roger Harmon is an American musicologist and lutenist who taught lute at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. He is noted for founding the Baltimore Consort in 1980 with flutist Mindy Rosenfeld, which performed successfully for several ...

and

Mindy Rosenfeld Mindy Rosenfeld is an American flutist, piper and harpist, noted as a founding member of the Baltimore Consort, specializing in Renaissance music. She is also credited as Mindy Rosenfeld Hedges. Life and career Mindy Rosenfeld, graduated with a Ba ...

in 1980. Harmon formerly had taught

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. They performed together for ten years before releasing their first album for

Dorian Recordings Dorian Recordings was a record label based in Troy, New York, most noted for its extensive series of early music recordings. Dorian made many of its recordings at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and supported the local all-classical radio stati ...

, a collection of

Scottish music Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed con ...

called ''On the Banks of Helicon''. By the time of that recording the ensemble consisted of

Custer LaRue Custer LaRue is a soprano vocalist of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She specializes in Renaissance music and traditional folk music such as the Child ballads and music collected in Appalachia during the early 20th century. Biography ...

(

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Ronn McFarlane Ronn McFarlane (born 1953) is an American lutenist and composer, most notable as an interpreter of Renaissance music. He formerly taught lute at the Peabody Conservatory, and has recorded many albums as a solo performer and in collaboration with ...

(

), Mary Anne Ballard (

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

), Larry Lipkis (bass viol,

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Chris Norman Christopher Ward Norman (born 25 October 1950) is an English soft rock singer. Norman was the original lead singer of the English rock band Smokie (band), Smokie, (1964–1986), who found success in Europe in the 1970s. "Stumblin' In", a 1978 ...

(

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

, bodhran), Howard Bass ( bandora), and Mark Cudek (

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

, bass

). Norman was replaced in 2003 by

, founding member of the original 1980 group whom he had replaced in 1987, and LaRue began an indefinite leave of absence in 2004, at which time

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

José Lemos began performing with the group, joined in 2005 by

Danielle Svonavec. The group has recorded some 15 albums for Dorian, including a Christmas album, ''Bright Day Star'', and a collection of bawdy songs with the ''a capella'' quartet called the Merry Companions, ''The Art of the Bawdy Song'' and a 2007 instrumental compilation, ''Gut, Wind and Wire''. Their various recordings also cover a number of the

Child ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''T ...

Discography

*''On The Banks of Helicon'' (1990) *''Watkins Ale'' (1990) *''La Rocque 'n' Roll'' (1993) *''The Art of the Bawdy Song'' (1993) *''Custer LaRue Sings 'The Daemon Lover' with The Baltimore Consort'' (1993) *''Bright Day Star'' (1994) *''A Trip to Killburn'' (1996) *''Tunes from the Attic'' (1997) *''The Ladyes Delight'' (1998) *''The Mad Buckgoat'' (1999) *''Shakespeare's Music'' (2001) *''Amazing Grace'' (2001) *''Adew Dundee'' (2003) *''The Best of the Baltimore Consort'' (2003) *''Gut, Wind and Wire; Instruments of the Baltimore Consort'' (2007) *''Adio Espana: Romances, Villancicos, and Improvisations from Spain, circa 1550'' (2009) *''The Food of Love: Songs, Dances, and Fancies for Shakespeare'' (2019)

References

External links

The Baltimore Consort's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore Consort, The Early music consorts Musical groups from Baltimore Musical groups established in 1980 1980 establishments in Maryland