Cicerone Ensemble
Biography Cicerone Ensemble
Cicerone Ensemble
For the Cicerone Ensemble just playing music is not enough. Listening to historical music is only part of the experience the three young musicians set out to provide. Their goal is to showcase music and bring it to life like a tourist guide would an old painting or an ancient building, hence the name “Cicerone” (Italian cicerone = guide). The greatest pleasure will be experienced when the music does not just have an emotional impact, but when one comprehends what is being heard. Having experienced this phenomenon firsthand during their studies, the three musicians soon made the decision to found an ensemble as a means of pursuing this very idea. This is why the Cicerone Ensemble generally includes presentations in their concerts.
By talking about historical instruments and techniques, they provide a context which allows the listener to experience the music from a new perspective. The presentations also result in a more diversified and accessible concert, which is why they have been met with much enthusiasm from critics and audiences alike. Not only does this help the musicians to heighten interest in the historical performance of Baroque music—it also enables them to perform more freely and with closer adherence to historical ideals. The members of the ensemble bring together individual experience gathered on stage and in recordings with ensembles such as Das Neue Orchester, the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, and the Kölner Akademie. Furthermore, the Cicerone Ensemble has committed itself to the respect for and adherence to the information contained in historical sources, which is why two of its members have been granted teaching positions at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, respectively. This combination of musicological resources and artistic passion results in music of perfect clarity and transparency, yet full of the affects that make the music of the Baroque era so distinctive.
