Lautten Compagney

Based in Berlin, the Lautten Compagney was founded as a lute duo by lutenists Wolfgang Katschner and Hans-Werner Apel in 1984. Since then, an entire orchestra has grown up around its founders, but Lautten Compagney continues to perform as a duo from time to time. Nonetheless, it has made its reputation as a Baroque period ensemble of the highest quality, with Katschner and Apel serving as co-leaders and the backbone of the continuo. In this context they have participated in revivals of little or unknown Baroque operas of Handel, Bontempi, Hasse, and Pallavacino in addition to renovated realizations of more familiar works such as Weill's Die sieben Todsünden and Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Lautten Compagney has also established itself as an outstanding group for the accompaniment of skilled singers, such as Suzie le Blanc, Lynne Dawson, and Maite Beaumont. Among many unusual projects Lautten Compagney have taken on was a 2002 concert marrying Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri to contemporary Dutch and German video art. The group has recorded for Berlin Classics, New Classical Adventures, Claves, Coviello Classics, CPO, and Capriccio.