Biography
Based in the Netherlands, Música Temprana devotes itself to the Renaissance and Baroque repertoires of Latin America along with their Spanish antecedents. A substantial share of the works it presents stems from recent discoveries in archival manuscripts.
Adrián Rodríguez Van der Spoel established the ensemble in 2001. Active as director, composer, guitarist, percussionist, singer, and researcher, he first performed Argentine folk music before pursuing early-music studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He continues to serve as artistic director of a flexible group whose regular membership numbers roughly eight yet grows when choral scores are involved. Van der Spoel maintains that applying strict European conventions to Latin American Baroque music would render performances overly rigid and scholarly; the repertory instead demands familiarity with Latin American folk practices, which he approaches in the same manner as Argentine traditional music. Over time the ensemble has broadened its programs to encompass Spanish pieces that would have been familiar to colonial musicians in the New World.
Música Temprana has traveled extensively through Latin America, with notable visits to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Ecuador. European festival appearances have included the Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Belgium, and the Mozart Festival in Rovereto, Italy. Its first recording, Avecillas Sonoras: Villancicos from 18th Century Latin America, appeared on the EtCetera label in 2008. Much of the group’s concert and recorded material derives from Van der Spoel’s original research in sources such as the Codex Trujillo of Peru or involves reconstructions of Baroque violins originating in Bolivia. The ensemble has also mounted staged productions of Mateo Flecha’s Ensaladas and Adriano Banchieri’s madrigal comedy Il Festino. Further releases have appeared on Cobra Records in addition to EtCetera; in 2021 the group joined PentaTone Classics for the album Melancolía, whose contents address unrequited love, mourning, and apocalyptic texts.
Adrián Rodríguez Van der Spoel established the ensemble in 2001. Active as director, composer, guitarist, percussionist, singer, and researcher, he first performed Argentine folk music before pursuing early-music studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He continues to serve as artistic director of a flexible group whose regular membership numbers roughly eight yet grows when choral scores are involved. Van der Spoel maintains that applying strict European conventions to Latin American Baroque music would render performances overly rigid and scholarly; the repertory instead demands familiarity with Latin American folk practices, which he approaches in the same manner as Argentine traditional music. Over time the ensemble has broadened its programs to encompass Spanish pieces that would have been familiar to colonial musicians in the New World.
Música Temprana has traveled extensively through Latin America, with notable visits to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Ecuador. European festival appearances have included the Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Belgium, and the Mozart Festival in Rovereto, Italy. Its first recording, Avecillas Sonoras: Villancicos from 18th Century Latin America, appeared on the EtCetera label in 2008. Much of the group’s concert and recorded material derives from Van der Spoel’s original research in sources such as the Codex Trujillo of Peru or involves reconstructions of Baroque violins originating in Bolivia. The ensemble has also mounted staged productions of Mateo Flecha’s Ensaladas and Adriano Banchieri’s madrigal comedy Il Festino. Further releases have appeared on Cobra Records in addition to EtCetera; in 2021 the group joined PentaTone Classics for the album Melancolía, whose contents address unrequited love, mourning, and apocalyptic texts.
Albums
