La Capella Reial De Catalunya

La Capella Reial de Catalunya is a vocal ensemble established by Catalonian gamba player Jordi Savall for the performance of pre-18th century choral music, largely but not exclusively from the Iberian peninsula. The group has performed and recorded extensively with Savall's other groups, Hesperion XXI (formerly Hesperion XX) and Le Concert des Nations. As with other Savall groups, La Capella Reial de Catalunya has a large and influential recording catalog. It includes the 2024 release Charpentier: Noël Baroque au temps de Louis XIV. Savall founded La Capella Reial de Catalunya in Barcelona in 1987. Its original name was "La Capella Reial"; the "de Catalunya" was added in 1990 when the choir began to receive support from Catalonia's regional government. The group was part of a musical growth process for Savall, who had founded Hesperion XX in 1974 and had steadily sought to perform a wider variety of repertory, as well as compositions that were larger in scope. The name means "Royal Chapel Choir of Catalonia," and in its general concept, it was intended to represent a court choir of the Renaissance era. With the new group, Savall could perform larger Renaissance and Baroque choral works such as landmark Spanish Renaissance masses by Victoria and Morales, as well as Baroque choral-orchestral pieces including Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 and Biber's Missa Bruxellensis. The ensemble made its recording debut in 1988, not long after its first live appearance, issuing a pair of masses by Catalan composer Joan Cererols on the Astrée/Naïve label. For the first part of its career, La Capella Reial recorded for those related labels; in 1999, it joined the roster of Savall's new Alia Vox label. La Capella Reial de Catalunya was featured in Savall tours mounted around Europe, North and Central America, the East Asia, and Australia. The group has also joined in larger operatic and choral productions, including a production of Monteverdi's Orfeo in Barcelona, often with Savall's Baroque orchestra Le Concert des Nations. La Capella Reial, like other Savall organizations, has been unusually successful as a recording prizewinner, garnering multiple awards from the Académie du Disque Française and other national industry bodies. In the 2000s, the group has often issued several albums per year; the year 2000 alone saw five releases by La Capella Reial. The group has issued conventional albums devoted to a single work or a single composer, as well as thematic releases such as Jeanne d'Arc: Batailles & Prisons. The choir stepped fully into its royal chapel role in 2014 with the release of M.A. Charpentier à la Chapelle Royale de Versailles. In 2018, with Hesperion XXI, the group released Bailar Cantando: Fiesta Mestiza en Peru. Its recording schedule slowed only slightly in the early 2020s, and in 2023, it made a rare departure from Alia Vox, joining Savall and Le Concert des Nations for a recording of Monteverdi's Orfeo on the Château de Versailles label. By the time La Capella Reial de Catalunya released Charpentier: Noël Baroque au temps de Louis XIV in 2024, its recording catalog comprised well over 60 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi