Ensemble Notturna
Notturna is a chamber collective that explores early music written especially for wind instruments. Founded in 2006 and based both in Paris (FR) and Montréal (QC), its members are all distinguished performers who specialize in historical performance of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Directed by oboist Christopher Palameta, Notturna’s “spirited and sensitive playing” (Early Music America, Spring 2010) draws on the transparency and expressiveness of early wind instruments to paint fresh pictures of an unexplored historical repertoire.
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Notturna has toured extensively in North and South America and Europe, assembling vivid and dynamic programmes its musicians interpret with zeal and uncompromising depth. Recent performances include recitals at festivals in Belgium, France, Finland, Argentina and Peru.
The ensemble’s discography includes five world-première recordings for the ATMA and Sony / Deutsche Harmonia Mundi labels, all of which have garnered unanimous praise from the international press.
Since 2006, Notturna's musicians have been exploring forgotten chamber music for winds, assembling vivid and dynamic programmes of previously unpublished and unrecorded works that they interpret with zeal and uncompromising depth. Each of the musician’s distinct personalities is given a chance to shine through, creating a sonic tapestry of warm and luxurious timbres.
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In particular, the ensemble specializes in chamber music from the Prussian court of Frederick the Great. Like Renaissance painters using chiaroscuro, these Berlin-based composers use their hallmark Empfindsamer Stil to skillfully create subtle effects of light and shadow in their works and plunge the listener into a world full of contrast and diversity.
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Notturna gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
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