Collegium Vocale Gent

Founded in 1970 by Philippe Herreweghe, the Collegium Vocale Gent was one of the first vocal ensembles to open up to what were then new ideas of historically informed performance practice. As a result, musicians such as Gustav Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt soon sought contact with the Flemish choir to engage it for their projects. Since the mid-1980s, the Collegium Vocale Gent has been performing in the major concert halls in Europe, Israel, the United States, East Asia, and Australia. Its repertoire is not limited to any particular period but ranges from the vocal polyphony of the Renaissance to contemporary music, with an emphasis on the oeuvre of Bach and Handel. In addition to performances with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées under Herreweghe, the Collegium has given concerts with the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, as well as with such traditional orchestras as the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. It has been conducted by Ivor Bolton, Iván Fischer, Jos van Immerseel, René Jacobs, Reinbert de Leeuw, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Paul Van Nevel. Since 2017, it has been presenting Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi, its own festival in Tuscany. More than 100 multi-award-winning CDs document its artistic work. The Collegium Vocale Gent is supported by the Flemish Community, the City of Ghent, and the Belgian National Lottery.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 16 April 1992 in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Philippe Herreweghe.

July 2022