Collegium Musicum (early music ensembles)
The Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama. They met mainly from about 1573 until the late 1580s, at the house of Bardi, and their gatherings had the reputation of having all the most famous men of Florence as frequent guests. Known members of the group besides Bardi included Giulio Caccini, Pietro Strozzi, and Vincenzo Galilei (the father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei).
Eastern’s early music groups include:
Camerata Singers - a select choral ensemble, drawn from Concert Choir, that performs madrigals and other choral literature appropriate for a chamber choir with special emphasis on music before 1750. The repertoire encompasses a unique variety of primarily a cappella music and/or music accompanied by light instrumentation. As part of the Collegium Musicum, the Camerata Singers model themselves after the Florentine Camerata. Camerata Singers
contact: Dr. Richard Robert Rossi email: rrrossi@eiu.edu
Sinfonia - a select chamber instrumental ensemble consisting of a combination of strings, woodwinds, brass and continuo that specializes in the reproduction of early music. The music of Sinfonia includes both the instrumental idiom as well as accompaniments for chamber choral works that span the musical spectrum from the early Baroque up to and including select works of the Classical Era.
contact: Dr. Richard Robert Rossi email: rrrossi@eiu.edu
contact: Dr. Peter Hesterman email: pdhesterman@eiu.edu
contact: Mr. Ben Hayek email: bhayek@eiu.edu
