Ensemble Peregrina, founded in 1997 by Polish singer and musicologist Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett in Basle, researches and performs sacred and secular music from ninth to fourteenth century Europe. The ensemble’s main interest lies in the early polyphonies and monophonic repertories of the Notre Dame school and Aquitanian nova cantica; the aim always being to look for a creative “counterpoint” to the mainstream in the less known peripheral sources. The ensemble’s programmes are characterised by a careful choice of themes and pieces, always paying close attention to their textual and musical interrelationships.

Peregrina’s interpretation and style is informed by the original source materials and treatises, as well as the latest musicological and historical research. The ensemble strives to approach a performance transmitted in the sources as closely as possible without having to renounce a well-balanced and beautiful vocal performance.

The ensemble’s continuing partnership with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where its members met and studied, led to the CD recordings Mel et lac (Raumklang 2005) with Marian Aquitanian songs of the 12^th century and Filia praeclara (Divox 2008) with medieval music from 13^th and 14^th century Polish Clarisse convents. Both CDs have received critical acclaim in the European and American press including among others: twice Goldberg 5 (ES), Selection Musicora (CH), CD of the month (Muzyka 21 PL), Supersonic Pizzicato (LUX). Filia praeclara has also won the prestigious ECHO-KLASSIK Award 2009 for the best a capella recording of the year. Between 2011–2017, six new CDs have been released: Crux with Parisian Easter music from the 13^th & 14^th centuries (Glossa 2011), Sacer Nidus with the oldest extant music from medieval Poland (Raumklang 2011), Veiled Desires – Lives and Loves of Nuns in the Middle Ages (Raumklang 2012, International Classical Music Awards 2013 nomination), Cantrix, presenting the musical past of the Maltese Order form the Royal Convents of Sigena and Las Huelgas (Raumklang 2013), Miracula with medieval music for St. Nicholas (Tacet 2014) and Codex 457 with medieval music from Tyrol (Musik Museum 2017). On the first volume of a four-CD project Mare Balticum with the oldest extant music from Denmark (released by Tacet 2017), Peregrina was joined by the renowned performer Benjamin Bagby (Sequentia). This album has won the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) 2019 in the early music category. Two further ICMA nominations followed 2020 and 2021 for the second and third volume of the Mare Balticum cycle: Music from medieval Finland and Sweden (Tacet 2019) and Wizlav von Rügen – Complete Songs (Tacet 2020). The fourth album Pomerania (Tacet) was released in 2021. Another collaboration with this label is the album Vox dilecti mei – The Voice of my Beloved with the earliest settings of Song of Songs (Tacet 2023). Most recent recordings include a three-disc box with a complete recording of music from the Krasiński Codex (Raumklang 2024, together with Ensemble Dragma), a cross-over album Laeta mundus – Resonances from 15^th-century Kraków (Anaklasis/PWM 2024) presenting Peregrina’s collaboration with Adam Bałdych (Renaissance violin) and Michał Górczyński (contrabass clarinet) and a Schola Cantorum double CD production of Peregrina and Ensemble Gilles Binchois (Dominique Vellard) with new discoveries from southern France Summa leticia (Semele 2025, digital only).

Peregrina has performed at numerous festivals in Switzerland (such as Lucerne Festival), Belgium (Bozar), Poland, Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Great Britain, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Iceland, Italy, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and the USA. Peregrina’s concerts have been regularly broadcast on SFR 2, Deutschlandfunk, Südwestfunk, SWR 2, BR, Klaasika Radio, Polskie Radio 2 und BBC 3.

The name peregrina, the wanderer, alludes to the transmission of music and ideas throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, but also reflects the personal journeys of the singers themselves. The ensemble members (coming from Poland, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, France and the USA) together achieve a dynamic balance through their different origins, and they unite to emulate the interaction and convergence of the cultures and histories of the music they perform.

www.peregrina.ch