Fully immerse yourself in the sonic universe of Europe’s late Middle Ages and early Renaissance with this program featuring the fascinating timbres of historical winds and percussion. Copies of historical instruments, their brilliant colors and sounds, unfamiliar to modern ears, transport you through the centuries to visit a captivating musical world mixing intimacy with extravagance, tumult with serenity, and moments of celebration with periods of contemplation…

At a jousting tournament, the calls of heralds announcing the knights’ arrivals are accompanied by the fanfares of talented minstrels, preludes to their elegant performances to come that evening at the ball. Once night has fallen, musicians positioned in palace alcoves will trade their shawms and slide trumpets for sweeter- sounding recorders, singing out subtle polyphony inspired by folk tunes that bring young and old to their feet to dance.

Elsewhere, the hypnotic melodies of ancient motets that once filled the earliest Christian cathedrals interweave with the wistful songs of troubadours calling for the besieged Jerusalem’s deliverance, and the cathedral naves ring with luminous harmonies, evocative of a heavenly peace not yet present in the realm of men.

Striking, rarefied and noble sonorities of instruments from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance allow Into the Winds to take the listener back in time, across bridges and through hidden passageways…. Founded in 2017, the ensemble consists primarily of five young multi-instrumentalists with a mission to introduce both sacred and secular music from the late Middle Ages to the early Renaissance to new audiences, via original programming and innovative concerts.

Winner of the 2019 Van Wassenaer competition organized by the Utrecht Early Music Festival and selected as a recipient of funding for new European ensembles by EEEMERGING+, Into the Winds has performed in numerous festivals across France and abroad such as Festival d’Ambronay, Festival de Saintes, Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Sinfonia en Périgord, Valloire Baroque, Baroque en Tarentaise, Musique Baroque du Jura, Promenades Musicales en Pays d’Auge, Les Intemporel-les, Musiques Anciennes de la Réole, Vochora, Oude Muziek (Utrecht), MA Festival (Bruges), Felix! Festival (Cologne), La Cité Bleue (Geneva), La Folia (Rougemont) and Innsbrucker Abendmusick, among others.

Into the Winds and their hautboys, sackbuts, trumpets, recorders, and various percussion instruments resound not only within famed concert halls but equally on the stages of current and contemporary programming, in the winding alleyways of medieval villages, the vestiges of ancient battlegrounds of old, and even upon the ramparts of fortified castles. While balancing their instrumental mastery with the energy and groove of a big band, the musicians are committed to sharing the joy of their music-making with others.

In 2023, Into the Winds released its first CD, Le Parfaict Danser, on the Ricercar label (RIC452). Comprised of the earliest notated dances from the 13th through the 15th centuries, the recording has been universally acclaimed by early-music reviewers and audiences alike.