Utopia Ensemble
Belgian handmade polyphony
Das Utopia Ensemble musiziert mit vollkommener Intonation und einem Stilgefühl, das uns zutiefst beeindruckt zurücklässt.
- Wolfram Goertz - jury Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2/2025
Utopia Ensemble is a leading voice in the revival of sixteenth-century Flemish vocal polyphony. Based in Antwerp, the ensemble combines historical expertise with a fresh and refined performance style. Their pure and harmonious sound, shaped by a collective artistic vision, has earned them international acclaim. Utopia regularly performs at major festivals and prestigious venues across Europe and has released several award-winning recordings, including multiple albums honored with the prestigious Diapason d'Or. Through their inspiring performances, Utopia Ensemble masterfully connects past and present, bringing timeless music to life for today's audiences.
Michaela Riener
Mezzo
Bart Uvyn
Countertenor
Adriaan De Koster
tenor
Lieven Termont
Baritone
Guillaume Olry
Bass
Discover our new album!
Charles V was certainly the most powerful and charismatic of the Renaissance rulers. Exhausted and worn down by the challenges of imperial rule, he abdicated towards the end of his life and led a secluded existence in the monastery of Cuacos de Yuste in Castile under the motto ‘Ecce elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine’ (‘I fled and remained in solitude’). The Utopia Ensemble seeks out the man behind the monarch and examines the duality of power and greatness as well as solitude. Pierre de Manchicourt – court composer to Charles's son and director of the famous Capilla Flamenca – could well have written his Requiem for one of the countless commemorations of Charles V. It radiates serenity and splendour and is juxtaposed here with chansons that moved the heart beneath Charles’s imperial armour.
SALVE SUSATO
The instrumentalist, composer, and publisher Tielman Susato (c. 1510/15 - after 1570) was one of the most illustrious figures in the musical life of Renaissance Antwerp. He founded the first music publishing house to use movable type in the Low Countries in 1543. Music printing had mainly been based in Italy, France, and Germany until Susato set up his press in Antwerp. He was one of the first to publish works by Orlando di Lasso, the most renowned composer of the late Renaissance. Susato was also an accomplished composer who wrote and published several books of masses and motets in the typical imitative polyphonic style of the time. He was well connected in the highest circles of the city and the country, often dedicating his publications to prominent citizens or rulers. The Utopia Ensemble here presents a florilegium of works composed and/or published by this dazzling figure of Renaissance vocal music.
THE SEVEN LAMENTATIONS
Utopia's first CD contains the 7 Lamentations of De Morales, a work that has not seen an integral recording for CD before.
The Lamentations from the Old Testament date back to the 6th century BC, to the sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon — on whose character Verdi was to base his opera Nabucco. The Lamentations have generally although possibly erroneously been attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. Their deeply expressive character has ensured that they have been set to music by many different composers, ranging in style from various monodic Gregorian settings to fully polyphonic compositions.
THE MUSICAL UNIVERSE OF ANDREAS PEVERNAGE
Andreas Pevernage (1542/3–1591) is best remembered today as the choirmaster of Antwerp Cathedral and as the composer of several picture motets that are now classified as masterpieces of Flemish culture. Whilst Pevernage spent his entire professional career in Flanders, which may well have contributed to his music being less well known today, he was nonetheless considered as the equal of Orlandus Lassus, Clemens non Papa and Giaches de Wert during his lifetime: the quality of his music is in no wise inferior to the works of his more famous contemporaries. Pevernage adopted the innovations of the Italian madrigal and also breathed new life into the chansons of the Low Countries. This selection of works, mostly for five parts, is an invitation to discover his stylistic and creative diversity.
LUTHER: THE NOBLE ART OF MUSIC
In a letter of 4 October 1530 to the chapel-master of the Bavarian court Ludwig Senfl (c. 1488/89–1543), Martin Luther famously proclaimed that, “I plainly judge and do not hesitate to affirm that except for theology, there is no art that could be put on the same level with music”. The position stands in stark contrast to some of his reformer contemporaries, who, disturbed by music’s power to affect the soul, all but banned it from the Church. Luther, on the other hand, sought precisely to capitalize on the qualities that music possessed in order to advance his reforms. For him, music was a powerful tool for private meditation and diversion, for strengthening communal ties, for spreading his message, and for public representation.