Collegium Vocale Gent is a Belgian musical ensemble of vocalists and supporting instrumentalists, founded by

Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster. Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Re ...

. The group is dedicated to historically informed performance.

Founding and program

Collegium Vocale Gent was founded in 1970 by a group of friends studying at the University of Ghent, on

’s initiative. They were one of the first vocal ensembles to use new ideas about baroque performance practice. Their authentic, text-oriented and rhetorical approach gave the ensemble the transparent sound with which it would acquire world fame and perform at major concert venues and music festivals of Europe, Israel, the United States, Russia, South America, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

Repertoire

Collegium Vocale Gent has grown organically into an ensemble whose wide repertoire encompasses a range of different stylistic periods. German Baroque music, particularly

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

’s vocal works, quickly became a speciality of the group. The group performs this music with a small ensemble in which the singers take both the chorus and solo parts. Collegium Vocale has specialized more and more in the Romantic,

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

and

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

oratorio repertoires. To this end, Collegium Vocale Gent enjoyed the support of the European Union’s Cultural Programme since 2011. The result is a shared symphonic choir recruiting singers from all of Europe, in which experienced singers perform alongside young talent. Moreover, Collegium Vocale Gent fulfils an important educational position.

Collaboration

Besides using its own baroque orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent has worked with several historically informed instrumental ensembles, including the Orchestre des Champs Elysées,

Freiburger Barockorchester Freiburger Barockorchester (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) is a German Baroque orchestra founded in 1987, with the mission statement: "to enliven the world of Baroque music with new sounds". History The orchestra is based in Freiburg im Breisgau. ...

and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. It also works with prominent symphony orchestras such as deFilharmonie (

Royal Flemish Philharmonic The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra is the symphony orchestra of Flanders (Belgium), based in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. The orchestra is led by chief conductor Elim Chan and honorary conductor Philippe Herreweghe. The organisation, which is ...

), the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the

Budapest Festival Orchestra The Budapest Festival Orchestra ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Fesztiválzenekar'') was formed in 1983 by Iván Fischer and Zoltán Kocsis, with musicians "drawn from the cream of Hungary's younger players", as ''The Times'' put it. Its aim was to mak ...

and Amsterdam’s

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...

. The ensemble has worked with Nikolaus Harnoncourt,

Sigiswald Kuijken Sigiswald Kuijken (; born 16 February 1944) is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on period and original instruments. Biography Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble ...

René Jacobs René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his music ...

Paul Van Nevel Paul Van Nevel (born 4 February 1946) is a Belgian conductor, musicologist and art historian. In 1971 he founded the Huelgas Ensemble, a choir dedicated to polyphony from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Van Nevel is known for hunting out li ...

Iván Fischer Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fisc ...

Marcus Creed Marcus Creed (April 19, 1951) is an English conductor. Born in Eastbourne, Sussex (South England), he was educated at Eastbourne Grammar School, King's College, Cambridge, Christ Church, Oxford, and Guildhall School in London. He moved to Ger ...

Kaspars Putnins Kaspars is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate to the German name Kaspar and English name Casper and may refer to: * Kaspars Astašenko (born 1975), Latvian ice hockey player *Kaspars Bērziņš (born 1985), Latvian basketball player ...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (; born Yannick Séguin;David Patrick Stearns, "Nezet-Seguin signs Philadelphia Orchestra contract". ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 19 June 2010. 6 March 1975) is a Canadian ( Québécois) conductor and pianist. He ...

and other leading conductors. The vocalists of Collegium Vocale Gent are trained by

Christoph Siebert Christoph Siebert is a German choral conductor, coaching and directing ensembles including the Collegium Vocale Gent. He is also an academic teacher in the field. Career Siebert studied church music at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt. After his e ...

who has also conducted performances at international festivals. Collegium Vocale Gent enjoys the financial support of the Flemish Community, the Province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

and the city of

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

. From 2011-2013 the ensemble has been

Ambassador of the European Union Below are current ambassadors of the European Union to non-EU countries and international organizations. They are also known as delegation heads or envoys. Prior to the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU was represented abroad by the Ambassador of the co ...

Discography

Under Herreweghe’s direction, Collegium Vocale Gent has made more than 80 recordings, most of them with the

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''harm ...

and

Virgin Classics Virgin Classics was a record label founded in 1988 as part of Richard Branson's Virgin Records. The unit, along with EMI Classics, was acquired by Universal Music in 2012 as part of the takeover of the EMI Group, however the terms of the Europea ...

labels.These included twelve volumes of

Bach cantatas This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both church cantatas, most of them for ...

in the 1990s. In 2010, Philippe Herreweghe started his own label φ (phi) together with Outhere Music. Since then the following recordings were published: * 2011 ** Bach:

Motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...

BWV 225–230 (LPH 002) **

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

: ''Werke für Chor und Orchester'' (LPH 003) ** Bach: Mass in B minor (LPH 004) ** Victoria: '' Officium Defunctorum'' (LPH 005) * 2012 ** Bach: ''Ach süßer Trost'' (LPH 006) ** Beethoven::

Missa solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...

(LPH 007) ** 2012: Dvořák: Stabat Mater (LPH 009) ** Gesualdo: Responsoria 1611 (LPH 10) * 2013 ** Bach: '' Ich elender Mensch – Leipzig Cantates'' (LPH 12) ** Haydn: ''

Die Jahreszeiten ''The Seasons'' (German: ''Die Jahreszeiten'', Hob. XXI:3) is a secular oratorio by Joseph Haydn, first performed in 1801. History Haydn was led to write ''The Seasons'' by the great success of his previous oratorio '' The Creation'' (1798), whic ...

'' (LPH 13) **

Byrd Byrd commonly refers to: * William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), an English composer of the Renaissance * Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), an American naval officer and explorer Byrd or Byrds may also refer to: Other people * Byrd (surname), includin ...

: ''Infelix ego'', mass for five voices (LPH 14) * 2014 ** Dvořák: Requiem (LPH 016) ** Haydn: ''

Die Schöpfung ''The Creation'' (german: Die Schöpfung) is an oratorio written between 1797 and 1798 by Joseph Haydn (Hoboken catalogue, Hob. XXI:2), and considered by many to be one of his masterpieces. The oratorio depicts and celebrates the creation of the ...

'' (LPH 018)

References

External links

*
Collegium Vocale
Discogs {{Authority control Early music choirs Belgian choirs Musical groups established in 1970 Bach choirs 1970 establishments in Belgium Harmonia Mundi artists