Contact
E-mail: info@sequentia.org
Worldwide Representation
Lucy Rice
Hazard Chase Ltd
25 City Road
Cambridge CB1 1DP
United Kingdom
Phone (direct):
+ 44 (0) 1223 706029
Phone (main):
+ 44 (0) 1223 312400
Fax: + 44 (0) 1223 460827
E-mail: lucy.rice@hazardchase.co.uk
In association with
Jon Aaron
Managing Director
Aaron Concert Artists
220 West 148th St. 4J
New York City 10039, NY / USA
Phone: 212-665-0313
E-mail: jon@aaronconcert.com
Production consultant (Europe)
Valérie Lafont
Cinquièmes Cordes
1bis, passage Duhesme
F-75018 Paris / France
Phone: +33(0)6 77 09 62 32
E-mail: valerie@cinquiemescordes.com
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The Ensemble
Sequentia is one of the world’s most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music. It is an international group of singers and instrumentalists – united in Paris under the direction of the legendary performer and teacher Benjamin Bagby – dedicated to the performance and recording of Western European music from the period before 1300. The size and disposition of the ensemble is determined by the repertoire being performed, and ranges between an instrumental/vocal duo to a large vocal ensemble. Based on meticulous and original research, intensive rehearsal and long gestation, Sequentia’s virtuosic performances are compelling, surprising in their immediacy, and strike the listener with a timeless emotional connection to our own past musical cultures. More
Hildegard von Bingen: Celestial Hierarchy
The final CD of Sequentia's Hildegard von Bingen complete works project was recorded for DHM/SONY in November 2012 in the church of Franc-Warêt, Belgium. It was released in May 2013 as a single CD, and will be followed by the complete works box set at a later date. The completion of this enormous project, begun by Sequentia in 1982, represents the culmination of the life's work of the late Barbara Thornton and also celebrates Hildegard's elevation to sainthood and magistra ecclesiae in 2012. A multi-generational ensemble of women's voices plus the flautist Norbert Rodenkirchen was united under the direction of Benjamin Bagby for this unique recording whose title is 'Celestial Hierarchy'. More
Frankish Phantoms
Benjamin Bagby: voice, harp;
Wolodymyr Smishkewych, voice;
Norbert Rodenkirchen, flutes, cithara, harp.
In his new Sequentia programme, Benjamin Bagby explores the musical world of the Carolingian clan – and especially Charlemagne, who became emperor in 800 –, those warlike and pious Frankish kings whose realm, in the 8th century, stretched across what is now most of Western Europe. More
Charlemagne: Emperor and Saint
Benjamin Bagby: voice, harp;
Wolodymyr Smishkewych, voice;
Norbert Rodenkirchen, flutes, cithara, harp.
Joined by vocalists Justin Bonnet, Vincent Pislar, and Michael Loughlin Smith.
As an extended version of 'Frankish Phantoms', members of the male vocal ensemble of Sequentia join for this second new program featuring music which highlights two aspects of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne and his image in the world: a selection of Latin songs from the his imperial court, devotional music from the time of his successors (8th – 10th centuries), as well as liturgical chant from the 12th-century office for Saint Charlemagne, Regali natus. More
Other Current Programs
new Voices from the Island Sanctuary
A new program of vocal music from the milieu of Notre Dame de Paris and the schools of the Latin Quarter (ca. 1170-1235). It was in the choir of the Cathedral of Notre Dame that the best young male vocalists in Europe were to be heard on important feast-days; it was here that the most innovative musical minds gave expression to new ideas in thrilling sonic structures which echoed the dynamic new architecture taking shape around them. More
Fragments for the End of Time
In this program, we explore the musical world of these surprising, powerful texts, some of which survive only as fragments: the Old High German Muspilli, which describes the waking of the dead, the workings of Satan, the fight of Elias with Anti-Christ, the call to judgement, and warns of the uselessness of wealth and bribery in that final courtroom... More
The Rheingold Curse: A Germanic Saga of Greed and Vengeance from the Medieval Icelandic ‘Edda’
An ensemble of five musicians (voices, harps, flute, fiddle) retells the dramatic story of the Rheingold, Sigurd and Brynhildur, the dragon and Gudrun’s murder of Attila the Hun. North American tour in January 2010. More
Upcoming Concerts
7-15 May 2013
Oude Muziek Netwerk tour: Brussels (B), Muiden, Maastricht, Enschede, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht (NL). Details
Frankish Phantoms
17 May 2013
Worms (D). Details
Frankish Phantoms
29 May 2013
Köln (D) Museum Schnütgen. Details
Frankish Phantoms
News
Teaching
New courses for 2013 are listed here.
Sequentia on BBC 3
Benjamin Bagby was recently in London, where he appeared as a guest on the BBC 3 'Early Music Show' to talk about Sequentia. The podcast version of his interview with host Catherine Bott can be heard here.
New recording
The program 'Voices from the Island Sanctuary' was recorded by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln in October 2012. A CD release in 2013 is currently being negotiated.
Fragments for the End of Time on 2012 US tour
Sequentia performed the program 'Fragments for the End of Time' during a US concert tour in February/March 2012. Read reviews in the New York Times: The Fearsome Future Through Medieval Eyes, and the Boston Musical Intelligencer: Bagby Time-Travels to medieval Europe.
Beowulf on DVD
Benjamin Bagby’s legendary performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (part I) recorded live in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Visit the Beowulf website
