Latest posts
-
Evangelina Mascardi
Life Evangelina Mascardi (born Maria Evangelina Mascardi, April 11, 1977, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) comes from a family of Ligurian-Italian descent. She trained first as a classical guitarist in Argentina before moving to Europe in 1997 to study lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, earning her soloist diploma in 2001.…
-
Jordi Savall
Life Jordi Savall was born on 1 August 1941 in Igualada, near Barcelona, Spain, and baptized Jordi Savall i Bernadet. He trained at the Barcelona Conservatory, graduating in 1965, then dedicated himself to the viola da gamba, specializing at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel under August Wenzinger, whom he succeeded as professor of viol…
-
Xavier Díaz-Latorre
Life Xavier Díaz-Latorre was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1968. He trained first as a classical guitarist, studying with Óscar Ghiglia at the Musikhochschule Basel and graduating in 1993, before turning to early music and studying lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since 1995 he has performed widely in baroque opera and…
-
Emma Kirkby
Life Emma Kirkby was born Carolyn Emma Kirkby on 26 February 1949 in Camberley, Surrey, England. She studied classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and did not originally train as a singer, teaching school before being drawn into the early music revival of the 1970s. Emma Kirkby became a leading soloist with ensembles including the Taverner…
-
Alberto Crugnola
Life Alberto Crugnola is an Italian lutenist born in Varese, Lombardy. He earned diplomas in classical guitar and lute from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, studying renaissance lute, theorbo and archlute with Paolo Cherici, Tiziano Bagnati and Francesca Torelli before specializing in baroque lute under Eduardo Egüez, with further study alongside Rolf Lislevand, Robert…
-
Andreas Scholl
Life Andreas Scholl was born on 10 November 1967 in Eltville, West Germany, into a family of singers, and joined the Kiedricher Chorbuben boys’ choir at age seven. At seventeen he won a rare place at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, studying countertenor technique under Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, with soprano Emma Kirkby and lutenist…
-
Yair Avidor
Life Yair Avidor was born in Tel Aviv, where he began classical guitar lessons at age ten before his growing interest in early music drew him to northern Europe. He studied at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen with Stephen Stubbs, held a Fodella Scholarship at Milan’s Civica Scuola di Musica under Paul Beier, and completed…
-
Gustav Leonhardt
Life Gustav Leonhardt, born Gustav Maria Leonhardt on 30 May 1928 in ‘s-Graveland, Netherlands, died on 16 January 2012 in Amsterdam. He studied organ and harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel from 1947 to 1950 before making his harpsichord debut in Vienna, where he also studied musicology. Gustav Leonhardt taught at the Vienna…
-
Miguel Serdoura
Life Miguel Serdoura, also known professionally as Miguel Yisrael, was born on March 31, 1973, in Lisbon, Portugal. He earned a diploma in classical guitar in 1994, then studied lute at the Paris Conservatoire with Claire Antonini before completing his training with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel between 1999 and 2004.…
-
René Jacobs
Life René Jacobs was born on 30 October 1946 in Ghent, Belgium, and began as a boy chorister before studying classical philology at the University of Ghent. Encouraged by the Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller, René Jacobs became one of the finest countertenors of his generation, recording rare early Baroque repertoire by composers…