''Ex Silentio'' is the Greek early music ensemble, that has a wide repertoire from

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

up to

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

. ''Ex Silentio'' appears regularly in festivals and venues in many European countries and focuses on music from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean as well as on Orient-Occident music relations. Band's first album, ''Mneme'', received the Pizzicato's journal prize and was shortlisted for the International Classical Music Awards in 2016.

History

Ensemble was founded in 2001 and is specialized in early music and historical performance practice. The director is a flute-player Dimitris Kountouras. ''Ex Silentio'' has performed in musical theatre and contemporary dance productions of the Athens Festival and the Athens International Dance Month. They had also performed in festivals and chamber music concert series in Greece and around Europe, including the “Musica antica del Mediterraneo” in Bari, the “Marco Fodella” concert series in Milan, the Greek Institute of Berlin, the “Musica Antiqua da Camera” in the Hague, the summer “Alte Musik in St. Ruprecht” in Vienna, the Μοzaik Project in Albania, the 1st Early Music Festival in Nicosia, at the Athens and Thessaloniki Concert Halls (Megaron), the Athens Festival, the Renaissance Festival in Rethymno, the Festival Guitar Plus, the Music Days of Rhodes etc. Ex Silentio has recorded for the record companies “Talanton” (works by Guillaume Du Fay and 15th-century secular music) and “Carpe Diem” Records (''Mneme'' - Medieval music from the Mediterranean, won the Pizzicato Magazine Supersonic prize, and was shortlisted for the International Classical Music Awards in the Early Music category in 2016). Ex Silentio is based in the Athens Conservatory. Members of the band teach at the international music community “Music Village” in Pelion.

Albums

''Mneme'' (2015)

The album features cantiga songs by the famous Spanish king-composer Alfonso X. Along with this, a few instrumental pieces, like the popular dance ''Saltarello'' from the London / Tuscan manuscript (an important archive of medieval Italian music), are included. The album also features compositions from the XIV-XV centuries - from Sephardim, Arabs and Greeks.

''Lethe'' (In the Courts of the Orient) (2020)

Lethe ( gr, λήθη, Greek for "oblivion"), includes ''El Rey de Francia'', a Sephardic ballad in

Ladino Ladino, derived from Latin, may refer to: * The register of Judaeo-Spanish used in the translation of religious texts, such as the Ferrara Bible *Ladino people, a socio-ethnic category of Mestizo or Hispanicized people in Central America especi ...

(also known as ''The King's Daughter's Dream''), The ''Nisabur'' and the ''Bestenigar'' pesrevs, from the collection of Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), and ''Murabba'', an old Ottoman song included in the collection of

Ali Ufki Wojciech Bobowski or Ali Ufki (also Albertus Bobovius, Ali Bey, Santurî Ali Ufki; 1610–1675) was a Polish, later Ottoman musician and dragoman in the Ottoman Empire. He translated the ''Bible'' into Ottoman Turkish, composed an Ottoman '' P ...

(1610-1675). ''Mahur semai'' is a later example of instrumental Ottoman music from the 19th century.

Ensemle members

Main

* Fanie Antonelou, voice * Theodora Baka, voice * Thimios Atzakas, oud * Elektra Miliadou,

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 ...

* Andreas Linos, viol * Fani Vovoni, violin * Flora Papadopoulou,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

* Iason Ioannou, cello * Markellos Chryssikopoulos,

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

* Dimitris Tigkas, violone & viol * Nikos Varelas, percussion * Dimitris Kountouras, direction & recorder/

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 ...

Guest artists

* Tobias Schlierf, voice & hurdy-gurdy * Sokratis Sinopoulos,

lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...

Discography

References

{{reflist

External links

Arts in Greece , Dimitris Kountouras on early music in Greece

About Mneme in Pizzicato journal

Info about the latest album, ''Lethe'', including its booklet with lyrics and photos
Early music Medieval musical groups Instrumental early music groups Renaissance music Baroque music