The Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal is a professional

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 ...

vocal ensemble A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada.

History

The group was co-founded in 1974 by the

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 ...

and

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 ...

players Christopher Jackson, Réjean Poirier and Hélène Dugal, and became an important part of the

early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...

in Montréal during the 1970s. Jackson became the ensemble's sole director in 1988. During the 1980s and 90s the group gave almost 90 concerts in France and Spain including performing and recording early music connected to Montréal and New France. In 2015, Andrew McAnerney was appointed Artistic Director following the death of Christopher Jackson.

Concerts

The Studio produces an annual season of ten concerts in Montréal, and appears regularly at festivals throughout Canada and internationally. Notable collaborations have included

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

Emma Kirkby Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, (; born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings. Education and early career Kirkby was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls in Dors ...

Ton Koopman Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orches ...

, Skip Sempé,

Guillemette Laurens Guillemette Laurens (born 6 November 1957 in Fontainebleau, France) is a French operatic mezzo-soprano. Guillemette trained at the Academy of Toulouse and debuted as Baba in ''The Rake's Progress'' at Salle Favart. She took part in the premiere ...

Matthias Maute Matthias Maute (born 1963) is a virtuoso recorder player and composer. Maute was born in Ebingen, Germany and studied in Freiburg and Utrecht with Baldrick Deerenberg and Marion Verbruggen. In 1990 he won first prize in the soloist category of ...

Noel Edison Noel Edison (born November 16, 1958) is a Canadian conductor. He is currently the conductor of the Edison Singers. Born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of George and Marian Clarissa (Frost), Edison graduated from Jarvis Collegiate in 1978 and Wilf ...

Suzie LeBlanc Suzie LeBlanc (born 27 October 1961) is a Canadian soprano and early music specialist. She is also active as a professor, currently working at Mcgill University. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2014 for her contributions to musi ...

and

Daniel Taylor Daniel, Dan, or Danny Taylor may refer to: Sportspeople * Dan Taylor (shot putter) (born 1982), American shot putter * Dan Taylor (cricketer) (1887–1957), South African cricketer * Dan Taylor (footballer, born 1993), English footballer * Dan Tayl ...

. The ensemble is flexible drawing on a regular core of professional vocalists and instrumentalists. Season concerts vary from a small ''a cappella'' ensemble with 12–14 singers, through to large-scale combined orchestra and chorus with a

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

made up of

period instruments In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...

Discography

Since its inception, the group has released 17 recordings, most recently on the

ATMA Classique ATMA Classique is a Canadian record label based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1994 by Johanne Goyette, the company has close to 600 titles in its catalogue and distributes in over 25 countries and on the internet. Several recordings released by ...

label. * 1981

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

, ''Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi'' * 1993

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber ( bapt. 12 August 1644, Stráž pod Ralskem – 3 May 1704, Salzburg) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl L ...

, ''Musique des Vêpres pour solistes, chœur et orchestre'' * 1995 Henri Desmarets, ''Quatre motets lorrains'' * 1995 Histoires sacrées, ''Oratorios de Carisimi et Charpentier'' * 1995 ''Le chant de la Jérusalem des terres froides'' * 1997 ''Palestrina, Missa «Ut, Ré, Mi, Fa, Sol, La» and other sacred works'' * 1998 '' Heavenly Spheres'' * 2001 ''Montréal et les Indiens Abénakis'' (reissue of ''Le chant de la Jérusalem des terres froides'') * 2002 ''Sacred Spaces'', Motets by Gabrieli and Monteverdi for choir and instruments * 2003

Giovanni Gabrieli Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1554/1557 – 12 August 1612) was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift f ...

, ''Puer Natus Est'' * 2004

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...

: ''

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...

'' * 2006

Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'', ''Marche en rondeau''. This theme is still us ...

* 2007 ''Rise, O my soul'' * 2007 ''Roma Triumphans'' * 2009

Orlande de Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palest ...

, ''Lagrime di San Pietro'' * 2011 ''Musica Vaticana'' (ACD22508) * 2014 ''Terra Tremuit'' (ACD22653) * 2017

, ''Laudate Dominum'' (ACD22746)

Awards

* 1998 Juno Award - Nominated «Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance» for ''Palestrina, Missa «Ut, Ré, Mi, Fa, Sol, La» and other sacred works'' * 1999

Prix Félix Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

- Won Disc of the Year for ''Heavenly Spheres''. * 2000 Juno Award - Nominated «Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance» for ''Heavenly Spheres''. * 2006 Prix Opus - Nominated Disc of the Year for ''Marc-Antoine Charpentier''. * 2007 Prix Opus - Nominated Disc of the Year for ''Rise, O my soul''. * 2008 Prix Opus - Won Concert of the Year for ''Jerusalem des terres froides''. * 2010 Prix Opus - Won Concert of the Year for ''Le Faste de la France''. * 2012 Prix Opus - Won Disc of the Year for ''Lagrime de San Pietro''. * 2015 Juno Award - Nominated «Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance» for ''Terra Tremuit''. * 2017 Prix Opus - Nominated Concert of the Year for ''Desires of the Soul''.

References

External links

Official Website of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal Canadian choirs Félix Award winners Musical groups established in 1974 Musical groups from Montreal Early music choirs 1974 establishments in Quebec