Capilla Flamenca

Capilla Flamenca is a vocal and instrumental early music consort based in Leuven, Belgium. The group specialises in 14th to 16th century music from Flanders and takes its name from the historical Flemish chapel (capilla flamenca), the choir of the court chapel of Emperor Charles V. When the emperor left Flanders in 1517, he took his best musicians with him to Spain to accompany him as "living polyphony".

The ensemble's Artistic Director, Dirk Snellings, died in 2014. The ensemble had ceased performing in November of the previous year.

The core of the Capilla Flamenca is four male singers, Marnix De Cat (Countertenor), Tore Tom Denys (Tenor, who succeeded Jan Caals in 2006), Lieven Termont (Baritone) and Dirk Snellings (1959-2014),(Bass), who is also the group’s artistic director, and a musicologist.

For each performance, the vocal core is enlarged either with complementary singers, an alta capella of wind instruments, a bassa capella of string instruments and/or an organ according to the needs of the genre. Among the singers, Psallentes (“the singers”) stand out, a Belgian vocal group specialising in plainsong and directed by Hendrik Vanden Abeele. The members of the windbands Oltremontano, directed by sackbut-player Wim Becu, and La Caccia, directed by Patrick Denecker (recorder and bagpipes) frequently perform the function of alta capella. Capilla Flamenca has also performed and made recordings with Philadelphia-based Piffaro. The bassa capella consists of lute-player Jan van Outryve and viola da gamba-players Liam Fennelly, Thomas Baeté and Piet Stryckers. Joris Verdin is the group’s organ player.

Capilla Flamenca specialises in Franco-Flemish polyphony, focusing on the music of around 1500. Recordings and performances of religious and profane works by Pierre de la Rue, Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Isaac, Johannes Prioris, Jacob Obrecht, to name just a few, have been executed since the ensemble’s formation in the 1980s. Over the years, the group’s interest has expanded to include earlier music, most notably the so-called Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior of the 14th century.

...
Wikipedia