Jordi Savall | Hespèrion XXI

In Antiquity, Hesperia was the name given to the two most westerly peninsulas in Europe: the Italian and the Iberian peninsulas. In Classical Greek, Hesperio was used to refer to a person originating from either of the two peninsulas, and it was also the name given to the planet Venus when it appeared in the western sky at night.

United by a common goal – the study and interpretation of ancient music according to new, modern criteria – and fascinated by the immense richness of the Hispanic and European musical repertoire before 1800, in 1974 Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, Lorenzo Alpert and Hopkinson Smith founded the ensemble Hespèrion XX. In its thirty years of existence, the group has, in collaboration with other outstanding performers, rescued numerous works and programmes from oblivion, thus contributing to a major reappraisal of the fundamental aspects of the Mediaeval, Renaissance and baroque repertoires. From the moment it was created, Hespèrion XX has carried out an intense schedule of concert performances and regularly appears at the main international music festivals.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Hespèrion XX continues to be a front-line tool for musical research, in 2000 reflecting the advent of the new century by changing its name to Hespèrion XXI. The ensemble has been characterised by its eclectic approach to the process of artistic decision-making: as 21st century musicians, its members’ objectives are grounded in the search for a dynamic synthesis of musical expression, stylistic and historical research and creative imagination. The fascinating task of reconstructing the rich exuberance of music from other ages, specifically music composed from the 10th to the 18th century, has breathed new life into current musical thinking.

Thanks to the energy and passionate vocation of its members, Hespèrion XXI has conquered the new Europe of nations and extracted the precious ore of its musical traditions. It has toured and harvested the music of Europe, the Middle and the Far East, and the New World. The group’s recordings and live performances have enabled us to rediscover Sepharad through its interpretation of Judaeo-Christian songs, Golden Age Spain, the Madrigals of Monteverdi and the Creole villancicos of Latin America.

Among all his CDs, which include Cansós de Trobairitz, El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, Diáspora Sefardí, Música napolitana, Música en el tiempo de Cervantes, El Barroco Español and Ostinato, as well as the monographic albums devoted to G. Gabrielli, G. Frescobaldi, S. Scheidt, W. Lawes, J. Cabanilles, F. Couperin and J. S. Bach, and the recent recordings of the music of A. Ferrabosco and music in the age of Queen Isabella I of Castile, are the most eloquent testimony to the wealth of possibilities offered by Hespèrion XXI.

Jordi Savall is an exceptional figure in today’s music world. For more than thirty years he has been devoted to the rediscovery of neglected musical treasures: thirty years of research, study and interpretation, both as violist and musical director. He has restored an essential repertoire to all those with ears to hear it. Beyond the happy few who already revered the instrument, he has created a wide audience for the viola da gamba, an instrument so refined that it takes us to the very brink of silence.

Together with Montserrat Figueras, he has founded three ensembles - Hespèrion XX, La Capella Reial and Le Concert des Nations; together, they explore and create a world of beauty and emotion which reaches out to millions of music-lovers world-wide and has established them as the leading exponents of so many neglected musical gems. One of the most multifariously gifted musicians of his generation, his career as a concert performer, teacher, researcher and creator of new projects, both musical and cultural, make him one of the principal architects of the current revaluation of historical music.

The pivotal part he played in Alain Corneau’s film Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World), which won a César award for the best soundtrack, his intense concert activity (140 concerts per year), recording projects (six per year) and more recently the creation of his own record label, Alia Vox, is proof that early music does not have to be elitist or of interest to only to a minority, and that it can and indeed does appeal to an increasingly large and young audience. Like many other musicians, at the age of six Jordi Savall began his musical training as a member of the boys’ choir of Igualada (Barcelona), the town where he was born, and later studied the cello at the Barcelona Conservatoire, from which he graduated in 1964. In 1965, he began to teach himself the viola da gamba as well as studying ancient music (Ars Musicae). In 1968 he began his specialist musical training at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where in 1973 he succeeded his own master, August Wenzinger, and continues to give courses and master classes.

He has recorded over 160 CD. Jordi Savall’s numerous awards and distinctions include “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (1988) from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication; the “Sant Jordi Cross” (1990) awarded by the Generalitat (Autonomous Government) of Catalonia; “Musician of the Year” (1992), awarded by Le Monde de la Musique; “Soloist of the Year” (1993) awarded by Victoires de la Musique; the “Gold Medal for Fine Arts” (1998) from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Arts; Honorary Member of the Konzerthaus, Vienna (1999); Doctor honoris causa of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (2000); “Victoire de la Musique” in recognition of his professional achievements (2002); the Gold Medal of the Parliament of Catalonia (2003), and the German “Preise der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (2003).

Montserrat Figueras is an outstanding performer in a vast vocal repertoire which spans the Mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Born in Barcelona into a family of music-lovers, she performed while still very young with Enric Gispert and Ars Musicae, studying singing with Jordi Albareda as well as dramatic interpretation. In 1966, she began studying early singing techniques, from the troubadours to the Baroque, developing a highly individual approach which draws directly on original sources, both historical and traditional, unfettered by the influences of the post-Romantic school. Her artistic and personal union with Jordi Savall, which has proved so fruitful in the couple’s multiple teaching, research and creative activities, dates from 1967. The mutually reciprocal, lasting impact of this collaboration on both their lives is particularly evident in the development of an innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to the historical sources combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, that has exerted a decisive influence on the whole historical music movement. In 1968, Figueras pursued her musical training in Basel (Switzerland) under Kurt Widmer, Andrea von Rahm and Thomas Binkley at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Musikakedemie. In the 1970s, Montserrat Figueras rose to eminence as one of a generation of musicians who realised that vocal music before 1800 required a new technical and stylistic approach capable of restoring to the beauty and emotion of the voice, that most human of all forms of expression, the necessary balance between singing and declamation, with an emphasis on the poetic and spiritual dimension of the text.

Between 1974 and 1989, Figueras was co-founder of the ensembles Hespèrion XX, La capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. Both in conjunction with these ensembles and as a soloist, she has been instrumental in the rediscovery of a musical heritage as eclectic as it is exceptional. She has thus magically brought to life such unjustly neglected music as the ancient Song of the Sibyl, the lullabies included in her recent recording Ninna Nanna, Misteri d’Elx and Isabel I, not forgetting her legendary performances of Trobayritz, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, Sephardic Ballads, Golden Age Cancioneros, Tonos Humanos of the Hispanic Baroque, and monographic programmes devoted to Milan, Mudarra, Narváez, Guerrero, Victoria, Marín, Merula, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Caccini, Charpentier, Mozart (Requiem), Sor and also the operas of Monteverdi (L’Orfeo) and Martín y Soler (Il Burbero di buon cuore and Una cosa rara).
Montserrat Figueras regularly performs at the major European, American and Asian music festivals.

Her CD recordings, which number more than 60, have received numerous awards and distinctions, including “Grand Prix de l’Académie du Disque Français”, “Edison Klasik”, “Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque” and “Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cross”, nominations  (2001 and 2002) for the “Grammy Award”; in 2003 she was awarded the distinction of “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government.

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