Who: Utopia Ensemble
Renaissance Music
Utopia Ensemble unites five singers with a great passion for polyphony. Utopia specialises in vocal music from the 16th and early 17th centuries. The principle of equality of the five voices ensures a rich homogeneous sound, always with a lived expressiveness.
Utopia Ensemble took its name from Thomas More’s book of the same name, written in Antwerp in 1516. Inspired by the interesting and innovative ideas in the book, Utopia also wants to play a social role through its projects and collaborations. For example, there is the Utopia Festival Day, an interdisciplinary initiative that links to social themes. As an ‘ensemble in residence’ in the beautiful Sint- Pauluskerk in Antwerp, Utopia has a wonderful home base for concerts and new projects. In the meantime, a collaboration has also been started with Museum Vleeshuis.
In recent years, Utopia has performed at major festivals and concert stages in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Utopia has already released three CDs, the last of which (2021) on the Ramée label with music by the unjustly ‘forgotten’ Andreas Pevernage. A next album by Ramée around publisher and composer Tielman Susato has already been recorded and is expected in the autumn of 2023.