A short video souvenir of Ensemble Caldemia‘s first concert – what a memorable evening! A big thank you to all those who came, to our very talented team of musicians, to the organizers, and to Ridha Ben Hmouda for the photographs and Baudouin van Rijckevorsel for the recording.
Here are some pictures from our recent concert on Sunday March 16, 2025 at 6pm in the Brussels Cathedral, © Ridha Ben Hmouda (www.cameraobscura.site)
About Ensemble Caldemia
Formed in October 2024, Ensemble Caldemia specialises in the performance of medieval music and contemporary music inspired by it.
The word “caldemia” comes from Hildegard von Bingen’s lingua ignota – the language she invented. It appears in the one and only known usage of this language – in the chant O orzchis ecclesia. She gave it the meaning of “aroma” or “scent”.
Here is a first trace of our sound and approach – from our rehearsal on December 12, 2024:
Ensemble Caldemia is under the artistic direction of Penelope Turner and is made up of a core of five professional female singers:
- Penelope Turner
- Laurence Renson
- Élisabeth Goethals
- Caroline Sordia
- Anna Nuytten
Approach
Ensemble Caldemia is a group of professional musicians with a passion for medieval music, and above all the music of Hildegard von Bingen. Our aim is to find unity in diversity, and each programme is designed to showcase both the solo and ensemble talents of the musicians: a strong, unified group sound is balanced by the individual solo strengths of the singers.
In order to demonstrate the continued importance of medieval music, Ensemble Caldemia brings past and present together in a juxtaposition of medieval music and contemporary works that are inspired by it – both musical and from other artistic disciplines.
Hildegard von Bingen – medieval music for the 21st century
In keeping with Caldemia‘s key objective, all the singers in Ensemble Caldemia learn and perform Hildegard’s music from the original 12th century notation.
The potential healing effect of Hildegard’s music is central to the way in which this programme has been created. The objective is to maximise the vibratory power of the music by, for example, exploring the spatial and acoustic possibilities of each individual venue in search of an optimal “staging” that brings the audience into as close as possible contact with the music.
To increase accessibility and introduce Hildegard’s music to a broader public, her monodies are sung not only in their original form, but also enriched by bourdons and/or given a modern, 21st century polyphonic setting by Penelope Turner (see Hildegard Revisited).
