Jordi Savall

Born in Igualada, Catalonia, in 1941, Jordi Savall trained in cello at the Barcelona Conservatory before devoting himself to the viola da gamba and early music repertoires, which he studied notably at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. As a performer, conductor and researcher, Savall has developed since the 1970s a body of work focused on medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, with constant attention to sources, historical practices and the exchanges between learned and popular traditions of the Mediterranean basin. He founded Hespèrion XX in 1974 (later Hespèrion XXI), then La Capella Reial de Catalunya in 1987 and Le Concert des Nations in 1989, three ensembles that structure much of his activity on stage and in recordings. Alongside the soprano Montserrat Figueras, his long-time artistic partner, Savall also broadened this field to include Sephardic, Ottoman and Iberian music. His participation in the soundtrack of Tous les matins du monde in 1991 brought wider visibility to his work. From 1998, Jordi Savall has released a large part of his discography on the Alia Vox label.