Paul Van Nevel

Paul Van Nevel

An acclaimed conductor and scholar researching and performing Renaissance and Medieval music, Paul van Nevel is particularly known as the founder and conductor of the vocal group the Huelgas Ensemble. Van Nevel's passionate interest in Medieval and Renaissance music reflects his belief that modern culture, being fundamentally visual, neglects a fundamental aspect of its history. According to Van Nevel, most people who are familiar with the art works of Bosch, Van Eyck, and Memling, know nothing about the music these great artists listened to. Van Nevel named his group after Las Huelgas Codex, an important source of knowledge about thirteenth century music. This codex was produced at the Cistercian convent near Burgos, Spain, the Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real de Las Huelgas. Van Nevel spends much of his time researching and transcribing early music, and many of his transcriptions have been published by Bärenreiter. Among his scholarly publications are a monograph on Johannes Ciconia, an essay on Nicolas Gombert and Flemish polyphony, and a study of the Franco-Flemish style of Northern France during the Renaissance. In addition to leading the Huelgas Ensemble, Van Nevel has appeared as guest conductor with many groups, including the Nederlandse Bach Vereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. A lecturer at the Sweelinck School of Music in Amsterdam, he teaches prospective choir masters the principles of notation, transcription, and interpretation of early music. The recording projects conceived for the Huelgas Ensemble are often associated with a particular time and place. One example is La Pellegrina, which features music which may have been used as entertainment at the 1598 wedding of the Grand Duke Ferdinando de Medici and Christine of Lorraine. Van Nevel has been instrumental in bringing to the public the music of many Medieval and Renaissance masters, including Agricola and Mattheus Pipelare. Under his leadership, the Huelgas Ensemble received numerous recording prizes, including the Edison Award, the First Prize of the CD Compact Records Awards of 1991, the Diapason d'Or (twice), the de Caecilia Award, the Snepvangers Award of the Belgian Music Press, the German ECHO Prize, the Cannes Classical Award, and the French Prix in Honorem from the Académie Charles Cros