Ensemble Gombert is a chamber choir based in Melbourne, Australia noted for its pure intonation and historic approach to choral sound and style. The ensemble was founded and is conducted by musicologist and organist John O'Donnell in 1990. The group is named after Nicolas Gombert

Nicolas Gombert

Nicolas Gombert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous and influential composers between Josquin des Prez and Palestrina, and best represents the fully developed, complex polyphonic style of this period in music history.-Life:Details of his early life are...

 (c. 1495 – 1560), whose music has largely been ignored in the centuries since his death, despite it having an exemplary reputation amongst his contemporaries.

Although Ensemble Gombert performs a wide range of choral music, ranging from plainchant to contemporary works, it specialises in a cappella performance of Franco-Flemish music of the High Renaissance

Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...

, that is, polyphonic music

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

 of the 16th century. The Ensemble has achieved an important place in the early music scene by re-introducing many forgotten Renaissance masterworks to the concert repertoire, using newly prepared editions by O’Donnell. These works are frequently juxtaposed in innovative programs with more widely known repertoire from later periods.

Performances in recent years have included a program of little-known works by Franco-Flemish composers Johannes Ghiselin, Jacquet of Berchem, Gaspar van Weebeke, Andreas de Silva, Nicolas Payen and Josquin des Prez

Josquin Des Prez

Josquin des Prez [Josquin Lebloitte dit Desprez] , often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance...

, a quincentennial celebration of Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis

Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...

, the first Australian performance of Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...

's 'Canon of Repentance' (composed in 1998), works by Jean Richafort

Jean Richafort

Jean Richafort was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.He was probably born in Hainaut, and his native language appears to have been French. He may have studied with Josquin des Prez, though the evidence for this is circumstantial. Richafort served as choir master at St. Rombold...

 and his parodists

Parody mass

A parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century, that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music, such as a fragment of a motet or a secular chanson, as part of its melodic material. It is distinguished from the two other most prominent types of...

, a program of works originally written for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 a concert of settings of the text 'Media vita' (In the midst of life) including a performance of Gombert's own 'Missa de media vita', German Baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

 masterpieces by Johann Hermann Schein

Johann Schein

Johann Hermann Schein was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was born in Grünhain and died in Leipzig...

, Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...

, Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...

 and Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

, Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...

's 'Stabat mater', and an annual concert entitled 'Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 to Candlemas' that presents works written for the numerous Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 feast-days in the forty-day Church season that begins on Christmas Day.

The ensemble has broadcast extensively on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

's ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...

 radio network, as well as the Melbourne-based community arts station 3MBS. It has appeared at many festivals across Australia, including the annual Organs of the Goldfields Festival in Ballarat, and the Woodend

Woodend, Victoria

Woodend is a small town in Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Macedon Ranges Local government area. It is bypassed to the east and north by the Calder Freeway and is located about halfway between Melbourne and Bendigo...

 Winter Arts Festival, has toured to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and twice to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and has released two CD recordings: Josquin to Martin on the Move

Move Records

Move Records is an Australian record label that was started in 1968 by Martin Wright. It concentrates primarily in classical and jazz music, particularly Australian, and most frequently Melbourne-based musicians and composers....

 label (2004) and Christmas to Candlemas for Tall Poppies Records

Tall Poppies Records

Tall Poppies Records is an Australian record label founded in September 1991 to present Australian music and musicians by musician and recording producer Belinda Webster. It records art music, both classical or jazz, and focuses on Australian music...

(2006).