Founded in 1970 on Philippe Herreweghe’s initiative Collegium Vocale Gent was one of the first ensembles to use new ideas about baroque performance practice in vocal music. Their authentic, text-oriented and rhetorical approach gave the ensemble the transparent sound with which it would acquire world fame. In recent years, Collegium Vocale Gent has grown organically into an extremely flexible ensemble whose wide repertoire encompasses the full range of different stylistic periods from renaissance up to contemporary music. Besides its own baroque orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent works together with several historically informed ensembles, including the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, the Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. It also works with prominent symphony orchestras such as the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Since 2017 the ensemble runs its own summer festival Collegium Vocale Crete Senesi in Tuscany, Italy. Collegium Vocale Gent enjoys the financial support of the Flemish Community and the city of Ghent. www.collegiumvocale.com