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.
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PRESS
„Phantasm’s playing brims with imaginative fantasy and dance-like momentum“
Gramophone
„Rigorous intellect with sensitive musicianship.“
BBC Music Magazine
SELECTION OF PROJECTS (2023/24)
Availability upon request
The well-tempered Consort: Music by J. S. Bach
In this programme we try to get ‘inside Bach’s head’ to make concrete within Bach’s glorious polyphony not only his vast range of references to arias, concertos, dances, sonatas but also as string players to engage with the astounding variety of characters, styles and emotions lurking beneath the surface of the notes. Even for those familiar with this repertoire from the keyboard will be astounded at how the clarity of lines audible on the viols that seems to result in new works penned by Bach’s genius.
Availability upon request
The Art of Being Human
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 will premiere in March 2023.
