Andreas Scholl Brings Troubador to Life

Andreas Scholl, one of the world’s finest countertenors, brings a unique staging of works by Oswald von Wolkenstein to the Barbican on 19 April.

Von Wolkenstein’s works, which range from the sacred to the profane, give a fascinating insight into the colourful life of this wandering 14th Century aristocrat, poet, composer, diplomat and troubadour.

This staged production, directed by Jos Groenier, includes performances from Shield of Harmony, Crawford Young (lute), Kathleen Dineen (voice/harp), Margit Uebelacker (dulce melos) and Marc Lewon (vielle/lute/chekker) and incorporates video and lighting projections by Uri Rappaport, as well as narration by Belgian/Flemish actor Bart Vanlaere to bring to life this extraordinary musician’s life and works.

Few composers whose music has graced the Barbican stage can have boasted quite such a colourful existence as the medieval poet and sometime diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein.

Having grown up in a Tyrolean castle, in a world recently ripped apart by the Black Death and immersed in religious and territorial conflict, Wolkenstein became something of a wandering knight with a complicated private life. If his travels greatly embellished the subject matter of his works they also enriched the musical form, as he incorporated French songs into the German style.

Book tickets and watch the video of Andreas Scholl at www.barbican.org.uk