Polyphonische Begegnungen – Polyphonic Encounters

In March 2025, the Phantasm Viol Consort launched its own concert series at St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin-Mitte. The series comprises four concerts, each devoted entirely to polyphony and spotlighting a composer especially renowned for mastery of this compositional technique.

With Orlando Gibbons, Peerless Polyphonist, the second concert in the series, Phantasm celebrates on 12 October 2025 one of the most important musicians in British history, marking the 400th anniversary of his death this year. Orlando Gibbons composed during the transitional period between the Elizabethan era and the Baroque, and is regarded as one of the last representatives of England’s polyphonic school. Even in his lifetime he enjoyed great popularity among patrons and audiences, and has been revered by musicians ever since: William Byrd, his contemporary, called him a “musical genius,” while Glenn Gould described his music as that which had “moved me more deeply than any other sound experience.”

“In his music, one senses a particular sensitivity both to melancholy and suffering as well as to joy and exultation in life,” says Laurence Dreyfus, founder and musical director of Phantasm. A taste of this can be found in the ensemble’s 2004 Gibbons recording, which won a Gramophone Award: “This is classy playing and a major contribution to the catalogue.”

In the Klassikfavori podcast series by Sabine Weber, Laurence Dreyfus spoke extensively about Orlando Gibbons on 3 June 2025.

The two remaining concerts in the series will be dedicated to Henry Purcell and William Lawes. With this series, Phantasm aims not only to promote the rarely heard English polyphonic repertoire in Berlin, but also to foster direct engagement with audiences. After each concert, the ensemble warmly invites attendees to enjoy a complimentary drink and informal conversation at the bar—your chance to ask anything you’ve ever wanted to know about viols, consort playing, and more!

POLYPHONISCHE BEGEGNUNGEN – POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTERS
Save the date – concerts season 2025/26

Concert II – Orlando Gibbons, Peerless Polyphonist
Sunday, 12 October 2025, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth
Concert III – Peerless Purcell: Fantasies in Full
Sunday, 11 January 2026, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth
Concert IV – William Laws, Exceptional Eccentric
Sunday, 8 March 2026, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth