Inganno - Intrepid Academy, Philip Thorby

Inspired by the "divine and sacred college" - an Accademia at the cultural heart of sixteenth century Venice where the music was directed by the great Flemish composer Adriaan Willaert, INGANNO will be the first recording to include all of Willaert's 1559 three-part ricercars.

Supreme and early examples of pure, extended instrumental counterpoint, the ricercars were much admired in their day, and a complete recording is long overdue.  They share the disc with settings of Dido's last words, with texts by Virgil and Ovid, and music by composers strongly connected to the Accademia: Jaques Arcadelt, Cipriano de Rore, Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Willaert himself.

one of the newly commissioned Brescia viols

• The Intrepid Academy was formed to explore the fascination of the Accademia with the myths of Apollo and Orpheus, who combined voice and lyre to magical effect, and in particular the music of the Flemish composers who gave Italy the madrigal, as well as its instrumental counterpart, the ricercar.

• The group uses copies of Italian sixteenth century viols - Venetian type instruments made by Richard Jones for David Hatcher, and a ground-breaking new set of viols copied from Brescian originals, commissioned by Philip Thorby from maker Tim Soar.  The insights which these instruments and their players give to the music, combined with Philip's unrivalled understanding of the repertoire and passionate direction, give a very special character to The Intrepid Academy's performances.

• We aim to raise £4000 which will cover the basic costs of recording, but if we manage to raise more we may be able to pay for production costs, editing, colour CD booklet and provide library copies.

The Intrepid Academy is Philip Thorby, David Hatcher, Alison Kinder (viols); Jennie Cassidy (soprano);

with Asako Morikawa, Claire Horacek, Ibi Aziz (viols); Lynda Sayce (lute and viol) 

The disc will be recorded in early June of this year, in a beautiful church in Suffolk. The Dido settings are powerful examples of Orphic song, whilst Willaert’s ricercari recall the debate that they inspired. Willaert’s music drew its inspiration from the classical past to create something never before heard – a real Musica Nova. In our turn, we now draw our inspiration from this “prince of music”, and from that most remarkable of times in that most remarkable of cities – Venice. We believe that we, too, have found something new. With your help, we can share it!

 The group has a mailing list which you can join here