Four musicians form the beating heart of this collective, which finds its way in three forms: as a quartet, chamber ensemble and complete baroque orchestra.
New Collegium was founded in 2006 (as Collegium Musicum Den Haag) by some of the top students of the Early Music Department of the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. The musicians also share their experience in historically informed performance with other internationally renowned baroque ensembles.
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Flying start
The impact of the collective was already clear in the year it was founded when the renowned Utrecht Early Music Festival invited the full orchestra to perform in the fringe program. The Austrian radio ORF produced the first CD a year later: "L’Europe Réunie". The press praised New Collegium for its "uncomplicated and yet precise playing."
In the years 2009–2016, the city of The Hague got to know the flexibility of the collective in a socio-cultural city tour; New Collegium brought music to distant communities and new audiences.
The Dutch Music Center also nominated New Collegium as Dutch representative for the Early Music showcase during the Utrecht Early Music Festival 2010.
International recognition
With C.P.E. Bach as the central composer, the second recording of New Collegium, released in 2015, showed that the boundaries of the Baroque are not limiting for their eagerness. In the CD "Empfindsam", " the deepest sentiments of C. P. E. Bach’s soul are seemingly laid out for all to feel, and Ribeiro and co. capture all the nuances to perfection.", according to the Early Music Review.
On King's Day 2015, New Collegium performed in full power for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of The Netherlands. The collective returned to the Utrecht Early Music Festival, this time in the main program of the 2015 edition. In 2018, New Collegium was featured in the renowned Bachfest Leipzig.
New Collegium was a prize-winner at the prestigious International Van Wassenaer Competition 2016, and gave concerts and masterclasses at the 27th International Early Music Festival of Juiz de For a in Brazil as the "ensemble in residence".
Invited by Ton Koopman, New Collegium performed in 2014 and 2017 at his "Itinéraire Baroque" in France. "The most beautiful musical satisfaction of the festival" concluded the press, emphasizing "their sense of rhetorical freedom."
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New Collegium has been a regular guest at other European concert venues, such as the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Bachfestival Dordrecht, Reincken Festival Deventer, Festival Classique Den Haag, Musica Antica da Camera (The Netherlands), MAfestival Brugge (Belgium), Brunnenthaler Konzertsommer, Italia Mia Vienna, Internationale Barocktage Stift Melk (Austria), Dalheimer Sommer (Germany), Itinéraire Baroque (France) en Opus Amadeus Festival (Turkey).
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Musical flexibility
With New Collegium's third CD "Chameleon" (2019), the musicians showcase the elements that kept Telemann’s musical style avant-garde throughout his lifetime. It is a blueprint of the collective itself: the enjoyment resounds in every form it takes!
Like the four classical elements - earth, air, fire and water - four musicians form the heart of the collective.
CLAUDIO RIBEIRO
Harpsichord & artistic leadership
Harpsichordist and conductor Claudio Ribeiro (São Paulo, 1976) is a regular guest at the most important European stages and festivals. He records for labels such as RAMÉE / Outhere Music, Ricercar, Ambronay Editions, ORF, Brilliant Classics and Passacaille and performs on radio and TV channels such as France Musique, ORF, NPO and Radio 4 (NL).
In addition to being artistic director and co-founder of New Collegium, Claudio is a member of various baroque ensembles such as La Cicala and Radio Antiqua, and forms a duo with recorder player Inês d’Avena, with whom he carries out an intense research activity in Early Music. He performs as a harpsichordist and organist with ensembles such as B’Rock Orchestra, Música Temprana and Vox Luminis, and as a guest conductor with the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra, among others.
Claudio teaches at several international festivals and is a harpsichord teacher and correpetitor at the School of Young Talent at the Royal Conservatory The Hague.
More information on Claudio's website
INÊS D'AVENA
Recorder
Inês d’Avena (Rio de Janeiro, 1983) is a recorder player, teacher and researcher, specializing in Neapolitan Baroque music. Inês is the artistic director of La Cicala and co-founder of New Collegium and AvenaRibeiro. She performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber and orchestral formations throughout Europe, Asia and her native Brazil, with ensembles such as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Ton Koopman.
Inês holds a PhD in Music from Leiden University and Bachelor's, Master's and teaching diplomas from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where, since 2012, Inês has been a Teacher and Research Supervisor for the Master Program and where she is also currently ad interim Educational Coordinator of the Early Music Department.
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More information on Inês’ website
SARA DECORSO
Violin
Sara DeCorso grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska in a musical household, both of her parents being clarinetists. She attended the Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Marilyn McDonald and completed her graduate studies at Stony Brook University in New York with Mitchell Stern. While at Oberlin she was introduced to, and captivated by, the baroque violin and gut strings. After having worked with early music specialists such as Arthur Haas, Phoebe Carrai, and Manfred Kraemer, she sought to more fully immerse herself in historical performance, and in 2002 was awarded a grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund to pursue baroque violin studies with Enrico Gatti at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag.
Since that time she has had an active international career as chamber musician, leader, and orchestral player with a variety of ensembles, including Musica ad Rhenum, Van Swieten Society, B’Rock, Anima Eterna Brugge, FestspielOrchester Göttingen, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and New Collegium. She has performed in important concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia, and taught at workshops in the US and Brazil. She plays on a violin buit by Louis Socquet, Paris 1781.
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More information on Sara’s website
REBECCA ROSEN
Cello
Rebecca Rosen began learning cello at the age of 9 in Los Angeles. In 2000, after she graduated summa cum laude from the University of California Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music theory, she began studying baroque cello with Elisabeth LeGuin. Her education was broadened through masterclasses with Phoebe Carrai and Christophe Coin. Rebecca was awarded the J. William Fulbright grant in 2002 to study baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands. There she earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in early music performance.
She is principal cellist of New Collegium, B'Rock, Les Passions de l'Ame, and Symphonie Atlantique and is a member of the chamber groups La Cicala and Ensemble Bonne Corde. In addition, Rebecca performs with such distinguished ensembles as Capriccio Stravagante, Les Ambassadeurs, Vox Luminis, La Dolcezza, Pygmalion, and Les Musiciens du Louvre.
Rebecca plays a cello built in 1745 by Joann Andreas Kämbl. Her interest in the historical development of the cello led her to learn its larger ancestor, the basse de violon, allowing her the joy of including 16th and 17th century music in her repertoire.
More information on Rebecca’s website
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Christmas Oratorio BWV 28 (1734)
Live concert recording (Laurenskerk, Rotterdam)