Peter de Groot - countertenor
Marco van de Klundert - tenor
Hans Wijers - bariton
Donald Bentvelsen - bass
The Egidius Kwartet was founded in 1995 by four members of Ton Koopman’s Amsterdam Baroque Choir with the aim of performing Renaissance and contemporary music from the Low Countries (in the broadest possible sense). The quartet was named after Egidius, an elegiac character from one of the most beautiful Middle Dutch poems contained in the so-called Gruythuys Manuscript.
At the heart of their repertoire lies music written during the reign of the Habsburgers (Charles V, Margaretha of Austria, Philip II). With their research, CD's and concerts, the Egidians sought and gained attention for the work of forgotten masters such as Nicolas Payen and Cornelius Canis. Their integral recording of Tielman Susato's two Musyckboexkens (NM Classic 92123) and the Dutch songs in the album of Lauweryn van Watervliet received much acclaim. In 2001 the Egidius Consort was formed to provide instrumental backing for various programmes.
In addition to performing Renaissance music, the Egidius Kwartet aims to continue a tradition in which singers are ambassadors of new music from their country. Many Dutch composers dedicated new works to the quartet. In order to avoid any semblance of orthodoxy, every deviation from the primary mission is regarded as a welcome diversion. The quartet performs a Schubert programme with fortepianist Arthur Schoonderwoerd and soprano Johannette Zomer and sang Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. and they have collaborated in a semi-scenic production of Lully’s opera Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme with Combattimento Consort Amsterdam.
The quartet made successful tours to France and Spain, Germany and the USA and has performed at the Holland Early Music Festival, the Flanders Festival, Musica Flandrica, the Tagen der alten Musik in Innsbruck, the Ambronay Festival, the Festival des Cathédrales de Picardie in Amiens, Les Concerts Allumés à Poitiers, the Festival de Musique Ancienne à l’Institut Néerlandais in Paris, the Radovljica Festival in Slovenia and the Festival of Early Music Dubrovnik, Croatia.
More information: www.egidiuskwartet.nl
