The Ensemble

Artefactum's members are all very seasoned musicians, with complex and very interesting careers behind them, which is all very well, but what's more, with many years' life experience, which is fundamental in knowing what the music one is performing is about. One cannot transmit an emotion one is unfamiliar with and an emotion cannot merely be discovered through a score. Perhaps more than any other period in music history, the Middle Ages combines monastic naivety with tavern wiliness, the comforts of the courts and the penalties of the Road to Santiago and, although it is seemingly impossible, there is all of this and much more in Artefactum. The key to understanding and enjoying Artefactum's music lies in its member's ability to combine three virtues that are often encountered separately, but are not as common in the one ensemble: originality, a sense of humour and the capacity to move the emotions.

The ensemble's originality immediately leaps to one's attention. Their manner of making early music has gone from being an interpretation to a style, an original style. It might or might not be to one's liking, but they have undoubtedly acquired a peculiar and distinctive sound, which identifies them and this is not easy in a period of music in which both the timbres and resources of the musical language are limited.

Anyone who has attended one of this ensemble's live performances has been witness to their sense of humour. Their manner of approaching the audience, who often end up in complicity with the ensemble, sets them well apart from the hieratic attitude characterising many ensembles that appear to have been unpleasantly overcome by an unexpected stomach ulcer during the performance!

But, above all, they have been blessed with the capacity to move the audience with their performances. This is undoubtedly because they know how to go beyond what is strictly found in the written source, reading between the lines of both the text and the music. The ensemble thus penetrates into the innermost drama of each work, from the Cantigas, to scenes from Carmina Burana, or ballads, telling their story, with their unique style, to all those who care to listen. Founded in 1995 with the objective of rediscovering and popularising the music of the Middle Ages, Artefatum has become one of the most representative medieval-music ensembles in Spain. This is reflected by the ensemble's participation in many of the most prestigious early-music festivals in the country (Barcelona, Madrid, Gijón, Úbeda/Baeza, Toledo, Valladolid, Pamplona, Olivares, Aracena, Jerez, Girona, Cáceres, Albacete, Ciudad Rodrigo, Estella, Portugalete, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Córdoba, Tiana, FMAS Seville…) and the invitations they frequently receive to represent Spain in festivals beyond the Spanish borders (Italy, Portugal, France, Morocco…).