The Hilliard Ensemble

Nicholas Hilliard, self-portrait from 1577

The Hilliard Ensemble was a British vocal ensemble . It was founded in 1974 and is named after the English miniature painter Nicholas Hilliard . The ensemble disbanded in December 2014.

Members

The quartet most recently consisted of David James ( countertenor ), Rogers Covey-Crump ( tenor ), Steven Harrold (tenor) and Gordon Jones ( baritone ).

The co-founder and baritone Paul Hillier left in 1989. The longtime tenor John Potter (member of the group since 1984) resigned in 2001 in order to be able to devote himself to teaching at York University . Other former members of the group are Leigh Nixon and Paul Elliott.

Repertoire and recordings

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Officium (with Jan Garbarek )   DE 48 01/16/1995 (9 weeks)   UK 99 10/08/1994 (1 week) Mnemosyne (with Jan Garbarek)   DE 57 04/19/1999 (6 weeks) Officium Novum (with Jan Garbarek)   DE 39 10/01/2010 (3 weeks)   AT 51 09/29/2010 (1 week)

The ensemble concentrated on music that was written before 1600, but also interpreted pieces by contemporary composers such as Arvo Pärt , Veljo Tormis , Erkki-Sven Tüür , John Cage , Gavin Bryars , Gija Kantscheli , Heinz Holliger and Rupert Gottfried Frieberger .

In 1994 the Hilliard Ensemble released the album Officium , recorded together with saxophonist Jan Garbarek , with great commercial success , on which Garbarek plays improvisations on medieval and early modern motets as the “fifth voice” . The album was awarded gold in the UK, Germany and Switzerland . This project was also presented to the public as part of a concert tour. The project was continued in 1999 with the two CD album Mnemosyne and in 2010 with the album Officium Novum . In 2019 the album Remember me, my dear was released - a live recording made in October 2014 from the farewell tour of the Officium project.

There was a further cooperation with the German baroque violinist Christoph Poppen on the recordings Morimur (2001) and Ricercar (2003).

Web links

• The Hilliard Ensemble - Homepage ( Memento from July 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
• The Hilliard Ensemble. ECM records 

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1. ^ The Hilliard Ensemble | Biography & History | AllMusic. In: AllMusic. Retrieved May 22, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT UK
3. ↑ OFFICIUM. JAN GARBAREK, THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE. In: Catalog. ECM Records, September 1, 1994, accessed October 30, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Awards for music sales: DE CH UK
5. ↑ MNEMOSYNE. JAN GARBAREK, THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE. In: Catalog. ECM Records, April 12, 1999, accessed October 30, 2019 . 
6. ↑ OFFICIUM NOVUM. JAN GARBAREK, THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE. In: Catalog. ECM Records, September 17, 2010, accessed October 30, 2019 . 
7. ↑ REMEMBER ME, MY DEAR. JAN GARBAREK, THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE. In: Catalog. ECM Records, October 18, 2019, accessed October 30, 2019 . 
8. ↑ MORIMUR. THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE, CHRISTOPH POPPEN. In: Catalog. ECM Records, September 14, 2001, accessed October 30, 2019 . 
9. ↑ RICERCAR. THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE, MUNICH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, CHRISTOPH POPPEN. In: Catalog. ECM Records, March 31, 2003, accessed October 30, 2019 .