Arsnova

ARS NOVA Copenhagen is recognized as the most prominent vocal group in Scandinavia, and as specialists in both early and contemporary music. Founded in 1979 by composer and conductor Bo Holten, ARS NOVA has produced numerous acclaimed recordings and has given more than a thousand concerts and broadcasts throughout Europe, Israel, Japan, Vietnam, Africa, South America, Canada and USA. ARS NOVAs chief conductor since 2002 is the internationally renowned British choral conductor Paul Hillier...

ARS NOVA Copenhagen is recognized as the most prominent vocal group in Scandinavia, and as specialists in both early and contemporary music. Founded in 1979 by composer and conductor Bo Holten, ARS NOVA has produced numerous acclaimed recordings and has given more than a thousand concerts and broadcasts throughout Europe, Israel, Japan, Vietnam, Africa, South America, Canada and USA. ARS NOVAs chief conductor since 2002 is the internationally renowned British choral conductor Paul Hillier, who was the groups first guest conductor from 1997 to 2002 anddirected the group’s 1999 American debut in New York. Often performing under former chief conductor Tamás Vetö, the twelve singers have also worked with other prominent specialists including Peter Philips, Bruno Turner, Kees Boeke and Andrew Lawrence-King. ARS NOVA champions Renaissance vocal music with highly praised performances of the intricate polyphonic masterpieces of composers including Guillaume Dufay, Josquin des Prèz, Thomas Tallis, Orlando di Lasso and Giovanni da Palestrina. The group has also revived neglected masters such as Pierre de La Rue, Nicolas Gombert, Pedro de Porto, Filipe de Magalhaes, Jacob Obrecht, Alonso and Duarte Lobo, Manuel Cardoso and Giaches de Wert, giving the first performances of many of their works in modern times. Hillier continues this tradition with two CD's of church music by Jacob Obrecht and motets by William Byrd released in 2002 and 2003.

Presently ARS NOVA and Paul Hillier are in the process of recording a series of CD's featuring music by John Taverner and other English Tudor composers. The first of these CD's was issued in 2006 and has been extremely well received by the music press. Equally renowned for performances of avant-garde vocal music, ARS NOVA has focused on new music from the past 35 years. They have championed the works of the leading Scandinavian classical and jazz composers: Per Nørgård, Poul Ruders, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Sven-David Sandström, Hans Abrahamsen, Ib Nørholm, Bent Sørensen, Pierre Dørge and Palle Mikkelborg - each of whom has dedicated new works to the group. ARS NOVA has given the premieres of over 150 new compositions for choir and the repertoire includes works by Pärt, Cage, Riley, Reich, Glass, Berio, Nono, Martland, Takemitsu, Gorecki, Kagel a.o.

Recently ARS NOVA released a recording of Terry Riley's minimalistic classic 'In C' which has received maximum ratings in newspapers and magazines all over the world. ARS NOVA tours internationally under the auspices of the Danish Foreign Ministry. ARS NOVA received the Danish “Grammy” award for their Nicolas Gombert recording: “Sacred Music” and a Diapason d'Or in France (“Best Classical CD”) for Josquin des Prèz: “Motets & Chansons.” In 2007 the group received a nomination for the prestigious Music Prize of The Nordic Council. ARS NOVA i s sponsored by The Danish Cultural Ministry and a number of private foundations. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..