Artemandoline

With their ensemble, Artemandoline, formed in 2001, Juan Carlos Muñoz and Mari Fe Pavón chose to go back to the original documents to establish the true pedigree of this incomparable family of instruments and to revive the forgotten masterpieces of Baroque mandolin music. They have made a major contribution to innovation in performing early music to encourage musical freshness and rigour. The success of this approach is based on a closer study of the historical treatises, the playing techniques and the musical environment of the glorious era of the mandolin.

 

Very quickly awarded prizes by the critics and enthusiastically acclaimed by the public, Artemandoline’s performances always create new impulsions. Its musicians dedicate their time and talents to the revival of the mandolin on the musical scene, participating in the current expansion of interest in it all over the world through their conservatory teaching and masterclasses, their concerts, and their publications. Artemandoline is one of the pioneers in this domain, in which it has forged an international reputation.

 

In a few years, the ensemble has found its style, proved its instrumental quality, and thereby constituted a veritable identity. Soon after its formation, it took its place among the foremost ensembles in the realm of historical performance practise on plucked strings. Audiences and critics alike were immediately filled with enthusiasm for their lively musical style.

 

The musicians play on period instruments: Baroque mandolins, Renaissance and Baroque guitar, Baroque mandola and mandolone, Renaissance lute, treble lutes, mandolins from Brescia and Cremona.

 

In June 2020, their second recording project with soprano Nuria Rial, Venice’s Fragrance, was released by the German label Sony Classical/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and received a great response by the international press. Their recent album Italian Baroque Mandolin Sonatas (2021, Sony Classical/dhm) features masterpieces from the 18th century in world premiere recordings.

 

Artemandoline is regularly invited to appear at early music festivals and venues including Konzerthaus Berlin, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Early Music Festival Stockholm, Festival du Clos Lucé, Bach Chamber Days Riga, Gaudete Early Music Festival, Festival Monza e Brianza, Festival Catalogne romane, Palazzo Contarini Venice, Early Music Day Alden-Biesen, Festival de Sarrebourg, Festival Musica del Temps passat, Musikfestspiele Stockstadt, Festival Louvie-Juzon, Festival Musique & Nature à Bauges, Festival Baroque du Marais, Festival de l’Epine, Festival du Périgord Vert, Narol Early Music Festival, Wratislawa Cantans Festival, Château de Sedan, Pommiers Festival, Oissery, Festival Midi-Minimes, Festival Rencontres de l’Alzette, Philharmonie du Luxembourg, Festival de musique ancienne de Simiane, Festival de musique ancienne de Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Festival des musiques anciennes de l’Abbaye de Sylvanès, Encontros de Música Antiga de Loulé, Festival de Chisinau, Moldavia, Early Music Festival Belgrade, Stockstädter Musiktage, Miercurea Early Festival (Romania), Münsterland Festival, Münster Barock, Gröpelinger Barock, Festival 1001 Notes, as well as performances in Alger, Porto, Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels, Lucerne, Japan, Dresden, Aosta (Castello de Sarre)...