Ensemble Peregrina, founded in 1997 in Basel by Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennet, Kelly Landerkin and Anita Dettwiller researches and performs sacred and secular music from twelfth to fourteenth century Europe. The ensemble’s main interest lies in the early polyphonies and monophonic repertories of the Notre Dame school and Aquitanian nova cantica; the aim always being to look for a creative “counterpoint” to the mainstream in the less known peripheral sources. The ensemble’s programmes are characterised by a careful choice of themes and pieces, always paying close attention to their textual and musical interrelationships.

Peregrina’s interpretation and style is informed by the original source materials and treatises, as well as the latest musicological and historical research. The ensemble strives to approach a performance transmitted in the sources as closely as possible without having to renounce a well-balanced and beautiful vocal performance.

The ensemble’s continuing partnership with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where its members met and studied, led to a first CD recording “Mel et lac” (SCB Edition/Raumklang/DRS2 2005) which has received critical acclaim in the press including 5
from Spanish Goldberg Magazine and 4 from French Diapason.

Peregrina has also been invited to lecture on the music of 12thcentury Aquitaine at the SCB and has twice performed in the prestigious concert series “Freunde Alter Musik” in Basel. The ensemble has also performed at numerous other festivals in Switzerland (such as Lucerne Festival), Poland, Germany, Spain, Estonia and Czech Republic. Its concerts have been braodcasted by radio stations like Swiss radio DRS 2, Deutschlandfunk, SWR2 and Klaasika Radio (Estonia).

The name “peregrina”, the wanderer, alludes to the transmission of music and ideas throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, but also reflects the personal journeys of the singers themselves. The ensemble members (coming from Poland, Switzerland and the United States) together achieve a dynamic balance through their differing origins, and they unite to emulate the interaction and convergence of the cultures and histories of the music they perform.

Most important performances:


Freunde Alter Musik Basel 2002 & 2006 (CH)
Festival de musique ancienne de Rougemont La Folia 2002 (CH)
Musica Antiga Palma de Mallorca 2002 (ES)
XIV. Berliner Tage für Alte Musik 2003 (D)
Lucerne Festival 2003 (CH)
XIV. Internationale Tage der mittelalterlichen Musik Montalbane 2004 (D)
IX International Tartu Early Music Festival Festivitas Artium 2004 (EE)
Schnütgen Konzerte Köln 2005 (D)
Freunde Alter Musik Laufenburg 2006 (CH/D)
IV Königliches Musikfestival Kloster Zlata Koruna & Prague 2006 (CZ)
Festival "Portico di Zamora" 2007 (ES)
Musik in der Klosterkirche Muri 2007 (CH)
Europäische Kirchenmusik Festival Schwäbisch Gmünd 2007 (D)
Tage Alter Musik Knechtsteden 2007 (D)


www.peregrina.ch
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