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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s performances and over 20 recordings have garnered steady praise with critics singling out their \u2018intensity and homogeneity of tone and their acuity to the music\u2019s ever-active emotional flux\u2019. Their most recent honours are the 2017 Gramophone Award for Early Music and the 2017 Diapason d\u2019or de l\u2019ann\u00e9e bestowed for their recording of Dowland\u2019s Lachrimae. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u2013 POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTERS<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n