Continuo Connect — Profile // Ensemble Pampinea

"LIFEM's young ensemble competition was deservedly won by trio Ensemble Pampinea. The judges not only praised their musicianship but applauded their ability to engage with their audience. One of their prizes is a full concert at next year's festival - I can't wait to hear it.“

— The Greenwich Visitor (Miles Hedley), Nov 2022

Ensemble Pampinea specialises in delivering well-researched concert programmes of medieval and renaissance music designed to engage audiences of all ages. The trio plays the recorder, fiddle, pipe and tabor, double recorder and organetto. With the programme "Fortuna, will you spare us?" the ensemble presents the repertoire of Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior in a charming interaction with the audience, who decide the fate of the concert. Their programme "Decameron" is inspired by Boccaccio's novel and presents Florentine composers of the Trecento period.

The musicians of Ensemble Pampinea, Fiona Kizzie Lee (recorder and early keyboards), Maruša Brezavšček (recorder) and Vojtěch Jakl (fiddle), met one another during their studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In addition to their expertise on their individual instruments, the ensemble's musical performance is enriched by the musicological research of Fiona, who is currently writing her doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.

Ensemble Pampinea won first prize at the LIFEM (London International Festival for Early Music) competition for young ensembles in November 2022 and was also a finalist at the Potsdam Sanssouci Festival in June 2023. The ensemble has been invited to perform at the London International Early Music Festival (2023), Seviqc Brezice (2023), and Muzej občine Šenčur (2022), among others.