Graindelavoix

(Belgium)

“Josquin the Undead”

Artistic director Björn Schmelzer

Graindelavoix is an Antwerp-based, multidisciplinary company with a fascination for the voice, the genealogy of vocal repertoires, and their relationships with the affective body, history, and territory. Graindelavoix was founded in 1999 by anthropologist and ethnomusicologist Björn Schmelzer with public appearances following shortly thereafter. The first recording, Ockeghem’s Missa Caput, released in 2006 on the Glossa label immediately placed Graindelavoix on the international scene. Each new project begins with a concrete musical gesture, a repertoire, or a work that envelops the complex layering of time and the operative aspects of practice. Graindelavoix tries to activate and embody the notation, an active reading in the medieval sense. Graindelavoix built a reputation as a pioneer of an entirely new approach to old repertoires, beyond the museum or historically informed vision, with its bold and often controversial interpretations to which the many international collaborations, residencies, performances, and CD awards will testify.