Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century

The Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century is a collective of specialist singers and instrumentalists brought together for the Fourteenth Century Recording Project. The ensemble was initially formed around the leading Australian mediaeval ensemble La Romanesca, which was expanded to provide the varied instrumental and vocal combinations required by the repertoire.

Sopranos: Margo Adelson, Cathy Cameron
Alto: Margaret Arnold
Countertenors: Hartley Newnham, Ian McDonald
Tenors: Lloyd Fleming, Geoffrey Cox, Tom Healey, Nick Tolhurst
Baritone: Gavin Carr
Psaltery: Ros Bandt
Vielle: Ruth Wilkinson
Lute: John Griffiths

... and directed by John Stinson and John Griffiths.

Note that the Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century perform only on Volumes 1-3 of the Fourteenth Century Recording Project. Volume 4 was performed by Les Six and may be viewed separately here.

Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century is featured on the following titles

I am Music - The Music of the 14th Century Vol. 3

The Music of the Fourteenth Century series presents some of the earliest and most significant polyphonic settings of late medieval lyric poetry. Songs by Francesco Landini, performed by the Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century.

Performer

Every Delight and Fair Pleasure - The Music of the 14th Century Vol. 2

Northern Italian music from the second decade of the 14th century to the early 15th. Anonymous Rossi manuscript songs sit beside madrigals and ballatas by Maestro Piero and Bartolino da Padova.

Performer

Two Gentlemen of Verona - The Music of the 14th Century Vol. 1

Two Gentlemen of Verona gathers secular polyphony from the first known generation of Italian composers. This volume presents madrigals, caccie and a motet by Jacopo da Bologna and Giovanni da Firenze.

Performer

Members of Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century

Hartley Newnham

Hartley Newnham is an Australian countertenor whose repertory runs from troubadour song and mediaeval monody to the avant-garde. A long-standing member of La Romanesca, he is also a composer and a noted advocate of new Australian vocal works.

Geoffrey Cox

Geoffrey Cox was born in Brisbane, but has lived in Melbourne since 1979. After a period as Organ Scholar at New College, Oxford in the late 1970s, he became Organist and Director of Music at St Peter's Anglican Church, Eastern Hill (1980-1994), Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral (1995-1999) and then Director of Music at St Patrick's (1999-2014).

Ros Bandt

Ros Bandt is an Australian composer, performer and sound artist whose work joins ancient instruments, environmental sound and live electronics in spatial music, installation and sound sculpture.

Ruth Wilkinson

Ruth Wilkinson is a recorder and viol player devoted to music from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Her performances are praised for their musical integrity, imagination and brilliance.

John Griffiths

John Griffiths is a Melbourne-born vihuelist, lutenist and musicologist whose research and performance have made him a leading authority on the sixteenth-century Spanish vihuela and its music.

John Stinson

John Stinson directs the Ensemble of the Fourteenth Century through the secular and sacred polyphony of trecento Italy. His recordings restore madrigals, cacce and ballatas by Jacopo da Bologna, Landini and their circle with clarity, flow and scholarly bite.