"Drawing on its rich repertoire of traditional Celtic music as well as Italian and Spanish diversions, the sextet moved back and forth between the sublime and the stirring, juxtaposing poignant airs and courtly melodies with vibrant jigs, reels and cantigas.... the ensemble had no difficulty fashioning an alternately lyrical and lively soundtrack, one that made colorful use of hand percussion, fiddle, oboe, recorder, Scottish small pipes, Celtic harp and viola da gamba."
The Washington Post

New CD Review from Dirty Linen:
"... a lovely blend of instrumental music on A Winter's Night....The most charming aspect of the collection, however, is the way the Ensemble Galilei weaves all of these melodies into a 55-minute tapestry broken only by an
enthusiastic audience response between each piece."
DIRTY LINEN folk/world magazine

"Ancient Noels is one of the years' best...a mystical majesty fuels both stately medieval processionals, sprightly Dutch and Basque carols."
The Washington Post

"Medieval and Renaissance tunes, beautifully rendered..." San Francisco Bay Guardian "Members of the Ensemble Galilei consider the pursuit of this ancient music as a labor of love."
The Baltimore Sun

"There's an ease about the way they play that seems to break down the barriers that normally exist between the audience and the performer. The repertoire is very engaging, and the audience is clearly enthusiastic."
Ben Roe, Performance Today

Ensemble Galilei's latest CD release is available at Borders Books & Music nationwide. Titled: A Winter's Night: Christmas in the Great Hall it's on the Maggie's Music label (MM226).

"Their ensemble work is flawless, their solos are full of character and inspiration, and their musical
choices are sometimes surprising, always enchanting" Acousticmusic.com

The CD celebrate the joyous spirit of the holiday season, Celtic traditions and all of the best things about Christmas performed with crackling energy and brilliant performances on fiddles, Celtic harp, oboe, whistles, recorders, Scottish small pipes, Uilleann pipes, and the treble and bass viols.

Click here for a new review from Acousticmusic.com


 

Ensemble Galilei performs Irish, Scottish, Early and Original music. For the 2007/2008 season, these Telarc recording artists are offering a series of innovative programs, including First Person: Stories From the Edge of the World the new collaboration with NPR's Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan and the National Geographic Society.


The new show features Ensemble Galilei's brilliant performances, along with narrative of original texts from some of the world's great explorers, and spectacular images seamlessly interwoven to convey the intellectual, physical and spiritual challenges faced by these extraordinary men and women. Read a recommendation.

Mixing the colors and styles of early instruments with Celtic traditions, the group includes Liz Knowles, fiddler from Riverdance, and Sue Richards, US National Scottish Harp Champion. Equally at home with Irish Reels, Medieval Cantigas and English Country Dance tunes, they are versatile, virtuosic, energetic, and very entertaining. Ensemble Galilei bring to CDs and the stage "All the precision of a first rate classical string quartet" and "communication between performers and audience at it best."

A Universe of Dreams: Music, poetry and stories. Narrated by Neal Conan, host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, with projected images from the Hubble Space Telescope. This concert marries music to words in a way that is both compelling and beautiful. A concert of music inspired by pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, the evocative music of the Celtic/Early Music Crossover group Ensemble Galilei presents the perfect backdrop for works by some of the finest poets in America. Audiences have been swept away by this extraordinary combination of the spoken word and what has been described by critics as "....music that speaks to the heart in ways that transcend mere language." A Universe of Dreams includes text from Stanley Kunitz, Jim Harrison, William Shakespeare, and a re-telling of a Navajo Creation Myth, all performed with images from the Hubble that have transformed our understanding of the universe.

The program is also available in December as a winter solstice event (without the projections), with text from Ogden Nash, Li Young Lee, Mary Oliver and Jim Harrison. Ensemble Galilei performs Irish, Scottish, Early and Original music on a variety of ancient and modern instruments, including the Celtic harp, Scottish small pipes, gamba, fiddle, recorders, whistles and percussion.

"The players, each a soloist in her own right, blended perfectly with the historic ambiance of the church and captivated the audience from opening to encore." The Ventura Star.

Arts in Education Programming

Ensemble Galilei has created several acclaimed educational programs for students of various ages. Multi-disciplinary auditorium programs, workshops and classes include:

Anna's Garden (4th - 7th grade)

A Universe of Dreams (both Middle & High School Cooperative Writing workshops and full College/University level residency)

Celtic Tunes and Ancient Tales (Pre-K through 3rd grade), among others.

The Washington Post comments:

"A Universe of Dreams -- a multimedia collaboration with gifted student-writers including the UM College Park Scholars, found the Annapolis-based chamber group deftly orchestrating a series of spoken-word pieces concerning the universe, creation and other cosmic matters. Reflective, poetic and witty by turns, the student-penned-and-recited contributions often inspired string-woven atmospherics, which complemented a running slide show that offered the audience a Hubble-eye view of space."

For more information on these and other Ensemble Galilei residency activities, please contact Martha Woods at 301-277-8205.