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Enso – what does it mean?
Among many meanings, the Enso circle from Zen Buddhism represents the interconnectedness of all things. In Japanese calligraphy it is created with one brushstroke – a symbol of spontaneous creativity with the open side of the circle showing our ensemble the way to infinite creative expression. We hope our musical performances help us all to think about today’s world with hope and positivity.
Founded in 2024, by the Swiss/American tenor David Munderloh, Enso has as its core repertoire the music of 17th and early 18th century England. Central to its membership are David Munderloh’s long time musical collaborators, lutenist Julian Behr and viol player Silvia Tecardi. Having worked together for over 20 years, the three have collaborated on several programmes and CDs including music from John Dowland, Henry Lawes, and John Wilson among others. When needed other forces are added to augment the trio. The ensemble is based in Basel, Switzerland.
American/Swiss tenor David Munderloh‘s repertoire includes works from a variety of eras, from Renaissance English lute songs to 19th-century songs with pianist and conductor Joshua Rifkin, for example.
David Munderloh is regularly asked to perform solo roles in oratorios, and has a special interest in Handel’s tenor roles. He has appeared in concerts and recordings with “Concerto Palatino” (B. Dicky), “Le Caravansérail” (B. Cuiller), the “J.S. Bachstiftung” (R. Lutz) and with the baroque orchestras “Capriccio Basel“, “Die Fritags Akademie” and the Ricercar Consort under P. Pierlot. He also sings with the “Collegium Vocale Gent” (P. Herreweghe) and with Jordi Savall (“Hesperion XXI” and “Le Concert des Nations“). Munderloh has often performs with ensembles: Vox Luminis, Solomon’s Knot, Ensemble Gilles Binchois and Le Grande Chapelle. For nearly ten years he was a member of the GRAMMY(™) award winning American Ensemble, Chanticleer.
In 2024 Munderloh founded the ensemble Enso. Enso is dedicated to the revival of little-heard music of the 17th and 18th centuries, especially secular English music.
David Munderloh has appeared on numerous recordings. Concert tours have taken the tenor to the USA, most European countries and often to the Far East. Two solo CDs (accompanied by his long time lutenist, Julian Behr) with songs by John Dowland and Henry Lawes have been critically acclaimed. His most recent CD of music by Benjamin Britten with pianist Edward Rushton, released in 2021, has also received critical acclaim.
Silvia Tecardi studied viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and medieval music with Randall Cook and Crowford Young. Since 2000 she has appeared in many of the most important European festivals in various formations for Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, beeing a regular member of Ensembles like Tetraktys (Kees Boeke), Les Flamboyants (Michael Form), Ensemble Daedalus (Roberto Festa) and Capricornus Consort Basel (Peter Barczi) as well as a guest of other specialized ensembles.
She appears on CD recordings for the labels Alpha, Zig-Zag-Territoire, K617, Raumklang, o-live-music / Et’Cetera, Naxos and Christophorus.
Next to her private teaching activity she has given gamba and performance practice courses at the Universities of Bogotá (Colombia), the University of Alicante (E) and the Freie Musikschule Basel. Currently she is collaborating with Roberto Festa and María Cristina Kiehr at the Atéliers Monteverdi of the AMA Conservatory of Geneva.
For the Stimmwercktage 2016 she created her ensemble Dryades Consort. This viol consort, together with countertenor Franz Vitzthum, recorded the CD Gift & Gegengift about the composer Caspar Othmayr, which appeared 2021 for the label Christophorus and Schweizer Radio SRF.
Julian Behr, born in Konstanz, studied classical guitar with Prof. Dr. Mario Sicca and lute with Robert Barto at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. After postgraduate studies with Joachim Held at the Hamburg Conservatory, he transferred to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he completed his training by studying early music and lute instruments with Hopkinson Smith.
He was an early teacher of guitar, taught lute and basso continuo at the Nuremberg University of Music from 2007-2011 and established a lute class at the Berne Conservatory Music School from 2013. He was elected as professor for lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, starting in the autumn semester 2020.
Parallel to his work as a lutenist, Julian Behr is intensively engaged in the research and reconstruction of historical lute instruments. It is particularly important to him to incorporate the knowledge gained in instrument making into current musical practice.
His concert activities have taken him to many countries in Europe, South America and Australia. He works with well-known baroque orchestras and ensembles and has been involved in numerous opera productions as a basso continuo player (Hamburg, Berlin, Sidney, Lisbon, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, Amsterdam, Ferrara, Munich, Schwetzingen). Very close to his heart is the work with singers, both in duo formation and in small chamber music ensembles. In this form he gives concerts, among others with Ulrike Hofbauer, Franz Vitzthum and David Munderloh.
Julian Behr can be heard on numerous CD recordings. In 2016, the solo program With Lance and Lute, with French lute music in accords nouveaux, was released on the Guild label.