Phantasm, an award-winning consort of viols, was founded in 1994 by Laurence Dreyfus. The ensemble quickly set a new standard for consort playing internationally both in the depth of its interpretations and its commitment to flawless string technique.
The winner of three Gramophone Awards among other prominent citations, the consort has travelled the world over, performing on concert series and in festivals throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Phantasm’s performances and over 20 recordings have garnered steady praise with critics singling out their ‘intensity and homogeneity of tone and their acuity to the music’s ever-active emotional flux’. Their most recent honours are the 2017 Gramophone Award for Early Music and the 2017 Diapason d’or de l’année bestowed for their recording of Dowland’s Lachrimae.
The members of Phantasm (from the UK, Finland and Germany) were Consort-in-Residence at the University of Oxford and Magdalen College from 2005 to 2015. In 2015, the group’s art activity shifted to Berlin.
In March 2025, Phantasm launched its own concert series, POLYPHONISCHE BEGEGNUNGEN – POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTERS, at St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin. Each concert is dedicated to a composer exceptionally skilled in polyphonic composition, with a particular focus on the English repertoire: Johann Sebastian Bach, Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell, and William Lawes.
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„Phantasm’s playing brims with imaginative fantasy and dance-like momentum“
Gramophone
„Rigorous intellect with sensitive musicianship.“
BBC Music Magazine
SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2027/28
Available upon request
BYRD AND ENGLISH SONGS
Phantasm Viol Consort / Anna Prohaska, soprano
This programme explores the distinctive art of the consort song in William Byrd, where a solo voice intertwines with a viol consort in a finely balanced dialogue. Alongside him, Thomas Tallis, John Dowland and Carlo Gesualdo shape a richly contrasted musical landscape, moving between spiritual devotion, melancholy and more sensual impulses. From intimate elegy to pastoral or politically tinged reflections, these works reveal a striking expressive range, in which each instrumental line seems to extend and illuminate the text without ever overshadowing it.
Works by W. Byrd, T. Tallis, J. Dowland
Availability upon request
DANCING WITHOUT DANCERS
Phantasm Viol Consort / Elizabeth Kenny, theorbo & lute
Music historians have labelled 16th and 17th-century art music written in dance forms, as ‘stylised dance music’ or even as ‘abstract’ dance music. This nomenclature, however, misses something important. For composers in this period were all well aware of the choreographed movement of dancer’s bodies and set out to incorporate the styles and gestures of feet, hands and facial expression into the facture of the music itself. With its multiple players each assigned an independent voice, the viol consort offers an especially complex field for a choreography that evokes the dance genres in fascinating ways. In this programme devoted to dance music of Anthony Holborne, John Dowland, John Jenkins and William Lawes we encounter such a rich panoply of expression precisely because the music never serves as mere background or accompaniment.
Works by A. Holborne, J. Downland, J. Jenkins & W. Lawes
Availability upon request
The Art of Being Human
Phantasm Viol Consort / Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and musical direction / Alexander Polzin, visual concept / Sommer Ulrickson, choreography / Dance: Saeed Hani Moeller, Sami Similae, Yamila Khodr, Camille Jackson, Rodolfo Piazza
The Art of Being Human is an exploration of how it feels to be alive and to exist among others, in relationships that are perfectly expressed through the polyphony of Early Music – its dissonances and harmonies – and reflected in the movement of dancers’ bodies, in a performance that offers profound insights into the very meaning of life. The Art of Being Human was commissioned by Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin, where it was premieredn successfully in March 2023.
With works by W. Byrd, J. Dowland, W. Lawes, H. Purcell and others
“Dreyfus therefore calls the evening ‘challenging’, but the ensemble succeeds in this challenge brilliantly.”
rbbkultur, 24 March 2023
DOWNLOADS
PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION
14 March 2025 / 12 October 2025 / 11 January 2026 / 8 March 2026, St. Elisabeth-Kirche, Berlin
POLYPHONISCHE BEGEGNUNGEN – POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTERS
Four composer portraits in the spirit of polyphony
Phantasm Viol Consort / Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and artistic leader
Guests: Ulrich Wolff, Bassgambe / Lea Rahel Bader, Bassgambe (11 January 2026) / Jean-Claude Kuner, Buchvorstellung (11 January 2026) / Martin Jantzen, Altgambe (12 October 2025 & 8 March 2026)
The Phantasm Viol Consort launched its own concert series in March 2025 at St Elisabeth Church in Berlin-Mitte. A total of four concerts are devoted entirely to polyphony, each focusing on a composer who was particularly distinguished in this compositional technique.
Concert I – The Well-Tempered Consort: Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Concert II – Orlando Gibbons, Peerless Polyphonist
Concert III – Henry Purcell, Prophetic Pathfinder
Concert IV – William Lawes, Exceptional Eccentric
10 January 2024, Wigmore Hall / 24 Sepember 2024, Musikverein Wien
BYRD COMPARED: BYRD AND ENGLISH SONG
Phantasm Viol Consort / Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and musical direction / Anna Prohaska, soprano
On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death, Phantasm developed a Byrd Triptych series that places his works in relation to those of later masters. At Wigmore Hall, the ensemble combined Byrd’s music with English songs performed by Anna Prohaska.
Works by W. Byrd, J. Dowland, T. Tallis, C. Gesualdo
“At the Wigmore Hall, her way with music from the English and Italian Renaissance was characterised by impeccable assurance and deep sincerity, her tone a mixture of silk and silver, the words etched with admirable restraint.”
The Guardian, 11 January 2024
„Together with the marvellously well-attuned viol consort Phantasm, this gave rise to an intimate evening that appealed not only to fans of early music.”
Die Presse, 24 September 2024
23, 24, 25 March 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal / 18 June 2023, Aldeburgh Festival /12 March 2025, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
THE ART OF BEING HUMAN
Phantasm Viol Consort / Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and musical direction / Alexander Polzin, visual concept / Sommer Ulrickson, choreography / Dance: Saeed Hani Moeller, Sami Similae, Yamila Khodr, Camille Jackson, Rodolfo Piazza
Works by W. Byrd, J. Dowland, W. Lawes, H. Purcell and other composers
“Dreyfus describes the evening as “demanding,” but the ensemble rises to the challenge with great aplomb.”
rbbkultur, 24. März 2023
„This mesmeric show was physically daring, liberating all ideas of gender and inviting acceptance of difference… The impact was provocative and ethereal.”
The Guardian, 24. Juni 2023
