Collegium Vocale

Collegium Vocale Gent emerged in 1970 as one of the first vocal ensembles to transfer the principles of historically informed performance from instrumental groups to choral repertoire. Founded in Ghent by Philippe Herreweghe together with fellow students at the local university, the ensemble quickly distinguished itself through its interpretations of Baroque and Renaissance scores while also encompassing Classical, Romantic, and contemporary works. Under Herreweghe’s continued artistic leadership the group has produced more than one hundred recordings and maintains a versatile roster that assembles its own period-instrument orchestra according to the demands of each program. Although Bach and other German Baroque composers have remained central since the beginning, the singers have also explored Gesualdo and Monteverdi, Mozart and Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms, Stravinsky, and newly composed oratorios.

Early recognition from Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, and Ton Koopman led to immediate high-profile partnerships. In 1976 the ensemble made its recording debut on Telefunken’s Das Alte Werk series, joining Koopman’s Musica Antiqua Amsterdam for Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale. Harnoncourt and Leonhardt subsequently invited the Collegium to participate in their complete Bach cantata project, and the group has since appeared regularly with both period-instrument orchestras such as the Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and modern ensembles including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

In 1993 the singers and their director were named Cultural Ambassadors of Flanders. Extensive touring has taken them across Europe as well as to Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Recordings have appeared on Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, and Ricercar; since Herreweghe established the Phi label in 2010, most new releases have been issued there. Between 2011 and 2013 the ensemble served as an Ambassador of the European Union, and since 2017 it has organized the annual summer festival Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi in Tuscany. Multiple recordings continue to appear each year. For its fiftieth anniversary in 2020 the group issued a retrospective box set drawn from its Phi catalogue of the previous decade. After several 2021 projects, among them Carlo Gesualdo: Dolcissima mia vita, the ensemble released Monteverdi: Anima dolorosa together with a ten-disc survey of Bach’s sacred choral music in 2022.