About
For over four decades, The Four Nations Ensemble has brought together leading soloists, generational front-runners of period vocal and instrumental performances. Through their innovative programming, they have developed a diverse audience and are a leading presence on the early music scene, performing at major houses and festivals including The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, The Boston Early Music Festival, and New York's Mostly Mozart, among many others.
The Four Nations logo
Cross the Pont des Arts, the walking bridge from Le Louvre to the left bank, and you will approach the embracing arms of the only Italianate palace of Paris. Today this unique building serves as The French Academy, but in 17th century it was known as the College of Four Nations and it was Mazarin’s legacy to Louis XIV and France. The minister and friend left a fund to build an institution to house his library and celebrate the far-reaching cultural power of his adopted country. In the ensuing centuries, its gold and black dome welcomed great minds that defined cultural values and kept French art and thought central to the world. It positioned genius of all disciplines in a large context. The Four Nations Ensemble, moved and fascinated by the context of the music they perform and love, is named in honor of the college, the image of Mazarin’s dome depicted in their logo.
Founded in 1986, The Four Nations Ensemble brings together soloists, frontrunners from several generations, who are leading exponents of period instrument and vocal performance. With a core ensemble of soprano, harpsichord or fortepiano, 2 violin, flute, and cello, Four Nations’ repertory runs from the Renaissance through Viennese Classical masterpieces of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Andrew Appel, harpsichord, fortepiano and artistic director
Pascale Beaudin, soprano
Olivier Brault, violin
Charles Brink, traverso
Loretta O' Sullivan, cello
In all of Four Nations’ programs and with decades in arts education, our goal has been to allow music to work as a catalyst for creative thinking, for nourishment through listening. The musicians cherish this music and our aim is to share the wealth of experience we have enjoyed with young people from every corner of our country, from New York, New York, to Amarillo, Texas, to Crested Butte, Colorado.