Polyphonic Preciousness

From mid-March 2025, the Phantasm Viol Consort will be hosting its own concert series at St Elisabeth Church in Berlin-Mitte. The concerts will be dedicated entirely to polyphony and will each focus on a composer who is particularly prominent in this compositional technique. Under the title The Well-Tempered Consort, the opening concert on 14 March 2025 is dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach. Transcribed for three to five viols in various sizes, his works will plunge listeners into unimagined depths both intellectually and emotionally – even if they are already familiar with the repertoire. The concert also presents the ensemble’s latest recording, The Art of Fugue, which will be released on the same day by Linn Records/Outhere Music. Find out more here.

Before starting the series in Berlin, however, the ensemble will be travelling internationally: in a trio formation, the musicians will present Perilous Polyphonies with experimental works by English composers that were daring in their time, while in Hamburg there will be a revival of the spectacular production The Art of Being Human, a performance that combines 16th and 17th century music, dance and visuals.

22 February 2025, Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht & 23 February 2025, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam
PERILOUS POLYPHONIES
Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol & musical direction / Jonathan Manson / Markku Luolajan-Mikkola
Works by C. Tye, E. Bevin, W. Byrd, H. Purcell and others
12 March 2025, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
THE ART OF BEING HUMAN
Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol & musical direction / Alexander Polzin, visual concept / Sommer Ulrickson, choreography / dancer: Saeed Hani Moeller, Sami Similae, Yamila Khodr, Camille Jackson, Rodolfo Piazza
Works by W. Byrd, J. Dowland, W. Lawes, H. Purcell and others
14 March 2025, St. Elisabeth-Kirche, Berlin
THE WELL-TEMPERED CONSORT
Phantasm Viol Consort / Laurence Dreyfus, concept & artistic direction
Works by J. S. Bach