Odhecaton Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble

The Italian vocal ensemble Odhecaton (pronounced Oh-DE-kah-tohn) owes its name to the first printed book of polyphony, published in 1501 by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice, Italy: ‘Harmonice Musices Odhecaton’. The word Odhecaton is derived from the Greek words: odè (meaning ‘song’) and ècaton (meaning ‘100’). Harmonice Musices Odhecaton was a collection of some 100 songs.

The name was chosen for the Italian vocal ensemble largely because of its core repertoire, which encompassed the work of French and Flemish composers during the Italian musical renaissance of the 15th century, notably Jacob Obrecht, Josquin Desprez, and Loyset Compère. Since the group’s debut in 1998, the repertoire has grown to include early and contemporary works by a large spectrum of composers.

Directed by Paolo Da Col, Odhecaton brings together some of the best Italian male voices specialized in the performance of Renaissance and baroque music.

The ensemble has made recordings dedicated to the music of Gombert, Isaac, Josquin, Peñalosa and Compère, and has helped rediscover the repertoire of 17th-century Spanish and Portuguese composers active in the Canary Islands. These programmes have led to appearances in Europe’s leading festivals, and won them important recognition in the world of recording: ‘Diapason d’or de l’année’, ‘5 diapasons’,’Choc’ (Le Monde de la Musique), ‘Disco del mese’ (Amadeus and CD Classics), and ‘Cd of the Year’ (Goldberg).

Beyond its central repertoire, Odhecaton has also presented a semi-staged production of Orazio Vecchi’s Amfiparnaso (directed by Enrico Bonavera, with scenery by Lele Luzzatti), and a production of sacred music by Gesualde da Venosa. From 2008 forward, Odhecaton paid particular attention to the music of Palestrina, and recently released a recording of Roland de Lassus. The group also works occasionally with instrumentalists specialized in their repertoire, including Bruce Dickey and Concerto Palatino, Gabriele Cassone, Liuwe Tamminga, Paolo Pandolfo, Jakob Lindberg, La Reverdie, and Andrea De Carlo with Ensemble Mare Nostrum.

On April 2018 Odhecaton  ensemble have been honoured by Italy’s National Association of Music Critics with the Franco Abbiati Prize.

Paolo Da Col (conductor)

Singer, organist, conductor and musicologist, Paolo Da Col completed his musical studies in Bologna and, from the beginning, he turned his interest to the Renaissance and Baroque music repertoire. For over twenty years he has been a member of several Italian vocal ensembles, including the Cappella di S. Petronio in Bologna and the Ensemble Istitutioni Harmoniche. Since 1998 he is Odhecaton ensemble’s conductor, as well as others vocal and instrumental groups specialized in the Baroque repertoire. He teaches at the Trieste Conservatory. Together with Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Da Col leads the magazine L’Organo, writes for the Giornale della Musica and other specialized musical magazines and he directs the music catalogue of the publisher Arnaldo Forni in Bologna. Besides, he is the curator of instrumental music editions, author of catalogues of musical stocks and essays about the history of Renaissance and Pre – Classic vocal music. He is working on Rossini’s opera omnia critical edition.  He currently carries out at the Centre d’Etudes Superiéures de la Renaissance in Tours a research project  on Italian Renaissance chapels.