Representation
North America
Jon Aaron
Managing Director
Aaron Concert Artists
331 West 57th St. #344
New York 10019
Phone: 212-665-0313
E-mail: jon@aaronconcert.com
Europe
Valérie Lafont
Cinquièmes Cordes
131, rue Legendre
F-75017 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 40 35 71 56
E-mail: valerie@cinquiemescordes.com
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 – for performances and recordings 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 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
International Symposium on Early Medieval Harps
On 8 and 9 October, 2011, Benjamin Bagby will participate in an international symposium on early medieval harps (also known as lyres), to be held at the Archeology Museum in Konstanz, Germany. Joined by experts from all over the world, instrument builders and other performers, Bagby will give a short performance of 'Beowulf' excerpts and also a talk on his work. The event has been planned around the exhibition of a recently-restored 6th century harp found in Trossingen, now on exhibit at the museum in Konstanz. Read the symposium brochure here (PDF, 886 Kb)
Frankish Phantoms
Benjamin Bagby: voice, harp;
Wolodymyr Smishkewych, voice;
Norbert Rodenkirchen, flutes, cithara, harp.
In his new Sequentia programme planned for Spring 2011, Benjamin Bagby will explore 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
Fragments for the End of Time / Endzeitfragmente
Benjamin Bagby: voice, harps, symphonia;
Norbert Rodenkirchen: flutes, harp.
In this unique recording of largely unknown repertoires from the 9th-11th centuries, Sequentia explores the surprising and powerful apocalyptic texts – some of them surviving only as fragments – which terrified early medieval Christians in Aquitaine and in German-speaking lands. More
Early Music America: “…gorgeously unnerving…” More reviews
Watch a live concert recording from this programPress Echoes
US Tour 2011
Benjamin Bagby’s superb medieval-music ensemble — The New Yorker (January 2011)
Mr. Bagby, who played the harp, and his five colleagues…sang with flair throughout the evening... — New York Times (25/01/11)
To listeners accustomed to the ethereal, disembodied sound heard in popular recordings of “Gregorian Chants to Soothe the Soule” (etc.), Sequentia’s sound — vigorous and virile — will come as a bit of a shock. … Harmonies, when used, were spare, diatonic, and often surprisingly dissonant. — clevelandclassical (26/01/2011)
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).
Listen to a live recording of the premiere of this programme on 20 November 2009 in Paris (available from France Musique via internet until 2 January 2010). 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
28 October 2011
Early Music In Columbus, USA
Chant Wars
13, 14, 15 January 2012
Musée National du Moyen Âge, Paris, France
Frankish Phantoms
25, 26 February 2012
Da Camera of Houston, USA
Fragments for the End of Time
News
Between Music and Story-telling
In the context of a performance by Sequentia of The Rheingold Curse at the Radovljica Early Music Festival (Slovenia) in August, 2011, Benjamin Bagby spoke with Katarina Šter. Read the English original version of the interview here
Bagby and Rodenkirchen on WDR3
In June, 2011, Benjamin Bagby and Norbert Rodenkirchen were interviewed by journalist Anna Austrup for a Sequentia 'Portrait' broadcast in the West German Radio's prestigious 3rd program, in conjunction with a live broadcast concert in Cologne's 'Romanesque Summer' concerts series.
Listen to the recorded interview (in German)
2011 Thornton Scholarship
Laura Osterlund is the recipient of the 2011 Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship.
Read more
Benjamin Bagby on WQXR
On January 23, 2011, Bagby joined host David Garland at New York's classical music station, WQXR, to share his insights on the challenges and pleasures of bringing medieval music to life, and to present recordings by Sequentia.
Listen to the recorded interview
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
