Ensembles & Orchestras
Ensemble La Traditora
La Traditora was founded in 2010 by three talented young musicians who had graduated from the prestigious school for early music “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis”. They have performed at Festivals throughout Europe, the USA and South America, collaborating with renowned early music ensembles including La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Concerto Scirocco, Ensemble L’Art du Bois, Il Profondo, Duo Marti-Vicens and Per Far Lieto, and have performed with well-respected soloists like Andrea Marcon, Dominique Vellard, Paolo Pandolfo, Rolf Lislevand, Hopkinson Smith, Jordi Savall, William Christie, Pierre Hamon, and Gottfried von der Goltz.
Their successful Swiss debut was applauded with standing ovations, and since then, they have committed themselves to a dynamic interaction with their audience; their performances are full of virtuosity, color and playful confrontation.
Having different cultural backgrounds - French, Catalan and Chilean - Amélie Chemin (bass and treble viol), Maria Ferré (lutes, early guitars and theorbo) and Catalina Vicens (historic percussion, organ and harpsichord) have integrated their diversity into a common language of intensity, sensuality and humor.
La Traditora offers a vast range of renaissance and baroque music, which showcases their spontaneous musicianship. They also collaborate with prestigious guest musicians and dancers, which further enriches the diversity of their programs.
Ensemble L'Art du Bois
Das Ensemble für Alte Musik wurde 2001 von den drei Flötistinnen Margret Görner, Lena Hanisch und Verena Fütterer gegründet. Als Trio wurden die Musikerinnen Preisträger zahlreicher Wettbewerbe. Im Jahr 2004 erweiterte sich die Formation um Viola da Gamba (Judith Sartor, später Soma Salat-Zakariàs) und Lauten (Maria Ferré und Mirko Arnone).
In dieser Besetzung konzertiert das Ensemble seitdem auf internationalen Festivals (Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Niedersächsische Musiktage, Leipziger Bachfest, Internationale Göttinger Händelfestspiele, Stockstädter Musiktage, Arolser Barock-Festspiele, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (Fringe), Festival Via Stellae (Santiago/ES), Festival de Música Antiga de Barcelona).
2006 erhielt L’Art du Bois den 1. Preis des van Wassenaer Concoursfür Alte Musik in Den Haag, 2007 den 1. Preis der Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik, sowie 2008 den Publikumspreis und den 2. Preis der Jury des renommierten Wettbewerbs Musica Antiquain Brügge.
Ensemble Il Quadrifoglio
Alice Borciani, Sopran
Sabine Stoffer, Barockvioline
Maria Ferré, Theorbe
Magdalena Hasibeder, Cembalo / Orgel
A Corte Musical
Founded in 1998, the Swiss vocal and instrumental ensemble A Corte Musical dedicates itself to the rediscovery and performance of little known composers from seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe, in particular those from Portugal and Spain.
Under the direction of Rogério Gonçalves the ensemble has gained an impressive reputation in the field of early music. Recordings by the ensemble have been highly rated by the international musical press: a disc of sacred popular songs by the Catalan Baroque composer Francesc Valls (Symphonia / Pan classics), “Flores de Lisboa” (K617), Sebastián Durón‘s opera “La Guerra de los Gigantes” (Pan classics), “Évora“ (Pan classics) and "Lágrimas, Amor..." (Pan Classics).
La Cetra Barockorquester Basel
The name of the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel is borrowed from Antonio Vivaldi’s violin concerto op. 9 La Cetra – the lyre. It stands for the orchestra’s core repertoire, the Italian instrumental music of the 18th century. In addition to concertante operas, works of Italian Renaissance and Baroque music and the rediscovery of unknown masterpieces, La Cetra and its associated vocal ensemble are predestined to perform great works for choir and orchestra from the Renaissance to the Classical period. La Cetra is one of the leading baroque orchestras in the world, the ensemble is internationally present as never before with performances in the most important concert halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Konzerthaus Wien, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Theater an der Wien, Carnegie Hall New York as well as at the most renowned festivals such as Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Festival de Granada, Festival Aix-en-Provence and many more. In August 2023, La Cetra will hold a residency at the Musikfest Bremen.
La Cetra owes its dynamic development above all to the award-winning harpsichordist and conductor Andrea Marcon, under whose musical direction the orchestra has been since 2009.
On his initiative, the La Cetra Vocal Ensemble was founded in 2012. The core of the choir is made up of graduates of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The La Cetra Vocal Ensemble supports the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra, which has made it possible to significantly expand the orchestra’s repertoire, but the vocal ensemble also realises its own projects. Because of its high musical and stylistic competence, the vocal ensemble is extremely versatile. The repertoire ranges from Gregorian chorale schola and chamber ensembles with soloists to large-scale operas and oratorios. Since its foundation, Carlos Federico Sepúlveda has been the mestro del coro of La Cetra Vocal Ensemble.
La Cetra’s explicit credo is that scholarly background work, intensive study of historical instruments, performance practice and the historical context of the works performed ultimately serve only one purpose: to make so-called early music tangible for people of today – in lively, gripping, up-to-date interpretations. For this, La Cetra was already awarded the European Early Music Prize in 2009.
La Cetra is also active as an opera orchestra; with Theater Basel, La Cetra realises a baroque opera production every season. At the Dutch National Opera, La Cetra was engaged as opera orchestra in 2019 under Andrea Marcon in the production “Juditha Triumphans”.
La Cetra has released numerous CDs with critically acclaimed recordings, most recently “Traversée” with Patricia Petibon and the three-CD recordings of Leclair’s violin concertos with Leila Schayegh, awarded the Diapason d’Or. In October 2022, “Vespro di Natale” with music by Monteverdi was released by Deutsche Grammophon and was enthusiastically received by the public and the press.