Cantar Alla Viola

Early Music Ensemble Specializing in Viola da Gamba and Voice

Cantar alla Viola, the art of accompanying the voice with the Viola da Gamba, is the largely-forgotten technique of using a bowed instrument to play polyphony and harmony as an accompaniment to the voice. The rediscovery of these methods of accompaniment inspired Nadine Balbeisi, soprano, and Fernando Marín, viola da gamba, to create their duo of the same name. The duo researches and makes use of the different kinds of violas da gamba used to accompany the voice, such as the Spanish Vihuela de arco, the bowed version of the Vihuela de mano (plucked), and the English Lyra-viol. Cantar alla Viola has performed in festivals and concert series in the US, Belgium, Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic. The duo has been a finalist on two occasions in the competition for early music in Antwerp International Young Artist’s Presentation. Through extensive research of the repertoire for this combination they have encountered lesser-known composers whose works they have introduced in concert and on critically acclaimed CDs.