Biography
In 1996 the best-selling vocal ensemble Mediæval Bæbes took shape when Katharine Blake, formerly the lead singer of Miranda Sex Garden, decided to translate her longstanding interest in medieval culture into staged musical performances. Joining her were eleven other performers and vocalists—Teresa Casella and Audrey Evans, both also ex-Miranda Sex Garden members, comic writer Marie Findley, Nicole Frobusch, Ruth Galloway, Karen Lupton, Claire Ravel, Australian-born Cylindra Sapphire, Carmen Schneider, Nichole Sleet, and New Zealand native Rachel Van Asch—who together forged a modern compositional style infused with pagan themes and spiritual atmospheres from the Middle Ages. Their first recording, the 1997 album Salva Nos, became the quickest-selling debut release on Virgin’s classical imprint Venture and ranked among the year’s most successful classical albums.
Worldes Blysse appeared two years afterward and likewise charted strongly in Britain. For the third album, Undrentide, issued in autumn 2000, the group enlisted Velvet Underground alumnus John Cale as producer; by then Frobusch, Lupton, and Sleet had departed, leaving Blake’s concept realized by nine women. The reduced ensemble next composed the soundtrack for the 2000 black comedy American Psycho. Spring 2002 brought their fourth release, The Rose, titled after the medieval emblem of love. In addition to performing in Italian, Latin, German, Middle English, and medieval French, the singers incorporated medieval Welsh and Russian into their repertoire. Their fifth Nettwerk album, the first holiday collection Mistletoe and Wine—again produced by John Cale—arrived in autumn 2003. By the time Mirabilis emerged in 2005, the lineup comprised Blake, Casella, Evans, Van Asch, Sapphire, Findley, and new members Maple Bee and Emily Ovenden, sustaining the ensemble’s signature fusion of archaic languages, folkloric sources, and richly textured arrangements.
Worldes Blysse appeared two years afterward and likewise charted strongly in Britain. For the third album, Undrentide, issued in autumn 2000, the group enlisted Velvet Underground alumnus John Cale as producer; by then Frobusch, Lupton, and Sleet had departed, leaving Blake’s concept realized by nine women. The reduced ensemble next composed the soundtrack for the 2000 black comedy American Psycho. Spring 2002 brought their fourth release, The Rose, titled after the medieval emblem of love. In addition to performing in Italian, Latin, German, Middle English, and medieval French, the singers incorporated medieval Welsh and Russian into their repertoire. Their fifth Nettwerk album, the first holiday collection Mistletoe and Wine—again produced by John Cale—arrived in autumn 2003. By the time Mirabilis emerged in 2005, the lineup comprised Blake, Casella, Evans, Van Asch, Sapphire, Findley, and new members Maple Bee and Emily Ovenden, sustaining the ensemble’s signature fusion of archaic languages, folkloric sources, and richly textured arrangements.
Albums
