Iris is an ensemble, which is specialized in music from the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. The ensemble consists of Poul Høxbro, pipes and drums, Miram Andersén, song and harp, Birgit Goris, fiddle and Bolette Roed on recorder. The four musicians met for the first time in spring 2004, where they had great success at Bolette Roed's debut concert. Since then, they have decided to continue the exciting collaboration and Iris will have its official debut in 2005. More information to come here on the home page soon.
Miriam Andersén, Swedish singer and harper, studied singing, medieval harp, medieval notation and performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. Her repertoire encompasses a wide spectrum of genres from Gregorian chant to Scandinavian ballads. In her own projects she arranges and reconstructs music and texts, often in collaboration with scholars of language and literature. She performs throughout Europe, in North America and in Australia, as a soloist or together with other well-known musicians, and has recorded a number of CDs with ensembles for medieval music such as Sarband, Ferrara Ensemble, Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Alba and Belladonna. Together with Poul Høxbro she specializes in early Scandinavian music under the name of ESK. Miriam Andersén has appeared in several theatre productions, for example at the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin. In 2002 she wrote and produced a historical play for the seven hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the city of Stockholm.
Poul Høxbro has achieved international recognition for his work in recreating a medieval playing style on the pipe and tabor. A nine months jorney in South America, where he played folk music from Peru and Bolivia, was to become crucial for his decision of a musical career. He has classical diploma and soloist examen - in recorder - from The Carl Nielsen Academy of Music, but since 1994 he has devoted all his time to investigate the simultainious playing on three hole pipes and percussion. Using his motley musical background, and in close colaboration with specialized instrumenmakers, this pioneering effort has lead to performances around the world and brought him a number of Danish musical awards. He works regular in different constellations with artists from Sweden, Germany and Australia, plays in Medieval Ensemble ALBA together with Agnethe Christensen and with Miriam Andersén in the duo Esk where they specialize in early and traditional Nordic music. In addition to his music he performs storytelling in Danish, English and German, gives lectures and dance courses.
Birgit Goris - Née le 22 juillet 1974, elle débute ses études musicales avec le violon et le piano qu’elle étudie au Rijksmuziekacademie d’Anvers ; elle poursuivra ses études de violon au Conservatoire Royal de Musique de la même ville, dans la classe de J. Rubinstein ; mais c’est au conservatoire de Strasbourg qu’elle obtient, en 1996, une médaille d’or dans la classe d’Alexis Galpérine. Parallèlement, elle s’intéresse au violon baroque et suit des cours auprès d’Alice Pierot, Chiara Banchini et Martin Gester pour la musique de chambre. En 1995, elle est membre de l’Orchestre Baroque de l’Union Européenne où elle aura l’occasion de jouer sous la direction de chefs tels Roy Goodman, Monica Huggett, Marc Minkowski ; elle se perfectionne également lors de stages auprès de Sigiswald Kuijken et de Philippe Herreweghe. Enfin, c’est au Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon qu’elle parachève ses études de violon baroque dans la classe d’Odile Edouard. Au sein de ce même établissement elle découvre la musique médiévale et la pratique de la vièle sous la direction de Pierre Hamon. Birgit Goris a participé régulièrement aux productions d’ensembles de musique anciennne comme Le Parlement de Musique, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Swiss Consort, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Swiss Consort, Ensemble 415, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, les Muffatti, Concerto Soave, les Agréments... En musique médiévale elle joue avec les ensembles Alla Francesca, Mala Punica, Iris, la fin´amor, la dolce sere. . Cependant, elle ne se limite pas au répertoire dit musique ancienne et a participé à de nombreux projets de musique contemporaine (festival Musica à Strasbourg avec des créations d’œuvres de Luca Francesconi, Ahmed Essyad, collaboration à l’IRCAM avec le compositeur et électro-acousticien Joseph Butch Rovan) ainsi qu’à des projets pluriculturels avec des musiciens d’autres horizons (Liban, Sénégal, Arménie, Inde).