Scholars Baroque Ensemble

The Scholars Baroque Ensemble was founded in 1987 by David van Asch in order to complement the very successful a cappella work of the The Scholars vocal quartet Members of the Baroque Ensemble are all accomplished specialists in the field of Baroque music and the instrumentalists play original instruments (or copies) using contemporary techniques.

Singers and players work together without a Director to produce their own interpretations of great baroque masterworks such as the St. John Passion and Motets by Bach, the 1610 Vespers by Monteverdi, The Fairy Queen by Purcell and Messiah, Acis and Galatea and Dixit Dominus by Handel, all of which have been released on CD by Naxos.

Although often called upon to perform the famous large scale works listed above, members of the SBE also enjoy performing as a smaller group: for example, just 8 singers and 3 continuo players for Bach's Motets or only 4 or 5 singers and continuo for works by composers such as Purcell, Lotti, Caldara and Valls.