Clemencic Consort

In 1969 recorder player and early music specialist René Clemencic established the Clemencic Consort. Long recognized as a pioneer, he ranked among the first to investigate medieval and Renaissance repertory in depth and to present it on period instruments with historically informed techniques. He launched the new ensemble after ending his tenure with the Ensemble Musica Antiqua, which he had joined in 1958.

The group’s programs range widely across the medieval era—encompassing the anonymous twelfth-century Play of Daniel and Le Roman de Fauvel—and continue through Renaissance and Baroque literature, occasionally extending into twentieth-century avant-garde works, several of them composed by Clemencic himself. A noted specialty remains the resurrection of seldom-heard seventeenth-century operas, among them Jacopo Peri’s Euridice. The Consort has produced a large discography and received numerous distinctions, including the Edison Prize, Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Prix Cecilia.