Ensemble Parlamento

Karin Weston, voice
Elizabeth Sommers, fiddle
Holly Scarborough, flutes and drum, direction
Ailen Monti, lute and gittern, direction

About

Ensemble Parlamento specialises in the music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, using historical sources to inform their performance on lute, flute, vielle, percussion, and voice.

Since its founding in 2021, Basel-based Ensemble Parlamento has been invited to participate in music festivals such as Freunde Alter Musik Basel (Switzerland, 2024), Sastamala Gregoriana (Finland, 2023), Medimus (Kosovo, 2023), Basel ReRenaissance Festival (Switzerland, 2023), and the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik (Austria, 2022). Parlamento was also awarded the 2022 Schola Cantorum Basiliensis "Vier Jahreszeiten" fall prize, and they have performed other concerts internationally. The ensemble has also sought ways to bring the beauty of early music to their local culture by visiting elementary schools and senior centers in their region.

The members of Ensemble Parlamento met in 2020 while studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and bonded as they spent Friday evenings studying the fourteenth-century notation and love poetry of Guillaume de Machaut for fun. Their first concert programme was the fruit of these explorations, and this time of relaxed creativity allowed their sound to develop a unique character. Since then, Parlamento has developed additional concert programmes based on The Nibelungenlied and the women’s wing at the 15th-century court of Ferrara.

VIDEOS

Concerts

14:30, 15:30, 16:30
Spanischer Saal, Schloss Ambras
Innsbruck, Austria

August 15, 2022

Machaut and the Trecento
Alternating programs of French and Italian fourteenth-century hits at Schlossfest Ambras, part of the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik

11:00, 14:00, 16:00
Franziskanerplatz, Hofgarten
Innsbruck, Austria

August 14, 2022

Machaut and the Trecento
Alternating programs of French and Italian fourteenth-century hits at Concerto Mobile, part of the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik

Machaut and the Trecento
Alternating programs of French and Italian fourteenth-century hits at Concerto Mobile, part of the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik

11:00, 14:00, 16:00
Annasäule / Seilergasse 10 / Domplatz
Innsbruck, Austria

August 13, 2022

18:30
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea
Spello, Italy

August 6, 2022

La musica alla corte dei Montefeltro
Closing concert of the 13th International Medieval Music course of the Centro Studi Adolfo Broegg

20:15
Kartäuserkirche
Basel, Switzeralnd

JUNE 10, 2022

Liebe mit Leide: The Love, Betrayal, and Revenge of Lady Chriemhilt
The Nibelungenlied accompanied by German music of the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries

November 18, 2021

12:00
Kleiner Saal
Basel, Switzerland

Parlamento
Machaut meets the Italian Trecento

October 23, 2022

Seasons of Love: In Ensemble Parlamento's program showcasing the work of French poet-composer Guillaume de Machaut, (1300–1377), his influence on later Italian composers is also presented, thus bringing these two repertoires into a dialogue together.

17:00
Kloster Königsfelden
Windisch, Switzerland

December 16, 2022

09:30
Primarschule Rittergasse
Basel, Switzerland

School Concert: Musik im Mittelalter
A presentation for fifth- and sixth-graders to celebrate the conclusion of their unit on the Middle Ages.

July 13, 2023

The Queen’s Revenge: Kriemhild sings the Nibelungenlied
Sastamala Gregoriana Early Music Festival

19:00
St. Mary’s Church, Sastamala
Finland

February 2, 2023

Musiksalon: Trecento
A musical tour of the Italian fourteenth century for residents of senior centers and their friends, family, and neighbors. The Musiksalon is an initiative organised by Carmen Bregy and Matthias Buschle in Basel.

15:00
Alters- und Pflegeheim
Ländliheim, Basel

May 27, 2023

O wy gern: Höfische Freuden um 1450
A concert devoted to courtly German, French, and Italian music of the 15th century; part of series of tributes to the church’s 900-year history

18:00
Programm zum Jubiläumsjahr 2023
St.-Petri-Kirche, Westerstede
Deutschland

June 23, 2023

Die Rache der Königin: Frau Kriemhild singt das Nibelungenlied
Swiss Tour

18:30
Dorfkirche St.-Arborgast, Muttenz
Schweiz

June 24, 2023

Die Rache der Königin: Frau Kriemhild singt das Nibelungenlied
Swiss Tour

18:30
Lavatersaal, Zürich
Schweiz

June 25, 2023

Die Rache der Königin: Frau Kriemhild singt das Nibelungenlied
Swiss Tour

18:30
Krypta der St.-Peter-und-Paul Kirche, Bern
Schweiz

January 12, 2024

Love Hurts: Machaut und die höfische Liebe im Trecento
Freunde Alter Musik Basel concert series

19:00
Grosser Saal, Musik-Akademie-Basel
Switzerland

December 16, 2023

The Queen’s Revenge: Kriemhild sings the Nibelungenlied
MidiMusique Konzertreihe

12:00
Predigerkirche, Basel
Switzerland

August 27, 2023

Locus amoenus: Courtly Music of the 14th Century
Medimus Festival

19:30
Church of the Holy Saviour
Prizren