Jordi Savall

A master player of the cello-like gamba, Savall has been one of the world's most beloved figures in early music for 50 years. He has shown us how early music can be "not simply a matter of revival, but of imaginative reanimation" (New York Times). At the Hop, Savall leads musicians of Hesperion XXI and singers of La Capella Reial de Cataluyna in a program of Baroque gems from the Iberian Peninsula. Spain 400 years ago was crossroads of the world, and the music of that time combines African, Northern European and Sephardic influences, from the village, court and church. Savall is the ideal channeller of that sound world. He and his late wife, soprano Montserrat Figueras, were among the early influential performers on the European early music scene, founding Hespèrion XX 1974 (which was renamed Hespèrion XXI at the turn of the 21st century). They favored a style of interpretation characterized by great musical vitality and, at the same time, ultimate historical accuracy, and created a unique sound through the use of viols and other medieval instruments such as the psaltery, wooden flutes, Moroccan drums and the Afghan rebec. In 1987, Figueras and Savall founded La Capella Reial (the Royal Chapel), one of the first vocal groups vocals dedicated to the interpretation of the music of the Hispanic "golden age." This performance involves eight instrumentalists and six singers from those two ensembles.