Composers ahead of their time

Founded in 1965 by composer and harpsichordist Andrey Volkonsky (1933–2008), the Madrigal Ensemble, has been one of the permanent ensembles of the Moscow Philharmonic. 

The Madrigal musicians were Russia’s first to perform masterpieces of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, early Baroque, as well as opera scenes, madrigal comedies, liturgical dramas, spiritual mysteries, oratorios, madrigals, secular and spiritual songs, and early instrumental music. 

Lydia Davydova, Karina, Ruzanna and Ruben Lisitsian, Alexander Tumanov, Larisa Pyatigorskaya, Boris Yaganov, Beatrice Parra, Boris Dobrokhotov, Mark Vainrot, Anatoly Grindenko, Lev Markiz, Boris Berman, Mark Pekarsky, Alexey Semyonov, Evgeny Argyshev, Yuri Zykov, Tatiana Dashkova, Tatiana Belyakova, Alexander Suetin and other musicians have been part of the ensemble in different years. Many of its ex-members later set up their own groups or started solo performing careers.

After Andrey Volkonsky emigrated, the ensemble was headed by singer Lydia Davydova (1972–1983; 1992–2008), and composer and organist Oleg Yanchenko (1983–1992). 

Over the years, the Madrigal Ensemble has given over 2,500 concerts throughout the Soviet Union, Russia and across the globe, presenting dozens of monographic and thematic programmes and participating in most prestigious festivals. The ensemble has recorded over 20 albums, and their LP series A Thousand Years of Music, released by Melodiya, has become a valuable rarity among collectors. 

A new page in the ensemble history opened in 2008, when it got headed by Alexander Suetin, Honored Artist of Russia, prominent performer who plays early plucked instruments including baroque and Renaissance lutes, orfarion, baroque guitar, mandora, and oud. The musician has appeared at many international festivals and projects, and authored numerous lute transcriptions and CD recordings. 

Presently the ensemble’s members are singers Anastasia Melnik (soprano), Elizaveta Svetozarova (soprano), Yulia Makaryants (mezzo-soprano), Alexey Sulimov (tenor), and Oleg Bankovsky (bass), as well as Anatoly Grindenko (viola da gamba, rebeck), Dmitry Bulkin (baroque trombone), Tatiana Lyubavskaya (flutes), Katerina Anokhina (cymbals), Kadyr Saidharun (percussion) and multi-instrumentalist Anna Toncheva (vihuela, gothic harp, doppia harp, dulzimer, psalterium, crumhorn, colnhorn). 

With its over thirty original programs, the new Madrigal Ensemble has participated in numerous festivals including The December Engagement in Kaluga, Diaghilev Days in Perm, 1st Open Festival of Professional Orchestras in Tchaikovsky (Perm region), Classical Guitar in the 21st Century (Kazan), Pizzicato chamber music festival (Ulan-Ude), as well as in international culture programs in Denmark, Malta, Sweden and Slovenia. 

In 2013, the ensemble recorded the first CD in its latest history, Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, a complete version of pieces from the Red Book of Montserrat – the most famous 14th century manuscript kept in the library of Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey in Catalonia, near Barcelona.