[PT] O Ensemble Med [med: mediterrâneo/medieval] é um laboratório de pesquisa e criação musical, que tem como foco o ponto de contacto entre os universos da música antiga e tradicional historicamente informada, procurando a sua própria interpretação viva e atual, numa abordagem multicultural e transversal. O Ensemble tem trabalhado com diversas formações, destacando músicos como Yenisey Gomez (canto), Rui Silva (percussões históricas), Didier François (viola d’amore a chiavi) e mais recentemente, o mestre gaiteiro Carlos Nunez (International Keyboard Festival [IKFEM] Tui, Galiza, 2020), com um programa sobre Cantigas Sacras Galaico-Portuguesas, Mauricio Molina (Encontros Med 2020, Monsanto, Idanha-a-Nova) e Adrian Rodriguez Van der Spoel (Encontros Med 2021, Monsanto, Idanha-a-Nova).

[EN] Ensemble Med is a music performing-research lab aiming at exploring the limits between Early Music and World Music i.e. the written source versus the oral tradition. This new source of inspiration is two folded: on one hand, the interpretation of medieval Western music into the living performance practice and on the other hand, the oral tradition practice from ethnomusicologists research into the historically informed realm. The performance practice of such distant repertoire represents undoubtedly immense creative possibilities. The outcome presented today is a sum of steps that gradually builds itself from the written material offered by the source into a kind of live improvisation, that we believe is closer to the piece's historical performance practice. The Ensemble it’s build by experienced music professionals from both worlds and has worked with several artists, namely Yenisey Gomez (singing), Rui Silva (historical percussion), Didier François (viola d’amore a chiavi) and more recently, Dr. Mauricio Molina (research and percussion).

Early Music is not Old. We are against chronocentrism, e.g. the idea that the Music from the Present is an evolution in relation to the Music of the Past: “Music is the best antidote against historical amnesia.”

Jordi Savall