The Royal Wind Music


An array of international musicians perform repertoire from the golden age of polyphony on an impressive collection of renaissance recorders: together they are The Royal Wind Music. The group was founded in 1997 by Paul Leenhouts and has captivated a steadily-growing worldwide audience ever since with its performances of instrumental music from the period 1520-1640. Playing entirely from memory and without a conductor, The Royal Wind Music is also known for its engaging performances and ability to communicate with the audience.

All current members of the ensemble are former students at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Their collection of instruments was made by Adriana Breukink (The Netherlands) and Bob Marvin (Canada). Both makers modelled their instruments on examples found in the Art History Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum) in Vienna. The ensemble’s renaissance recorders vary from a 15cm small sopranino to an almost three-meter long sub- contrabass recorder designed according to renaissance principles in 1998 by Adriana Breukink, Winfried Hackl and Paul Leenhouts.

The Royal Wind Music has performed in major concert halls all over Europe and in the United States and Mexico. They have also appeared at prestigious venues in the Netherlands including the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (Amsterdam), TivoliVredenburg (Utrecht), De Doelen (Rotterdam), De Philharmonie (Haarlem) and De Oosterpoort (Groningen). Other notable appearances have taken place at important festivals including the Early Music Festival Utrecht, the Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Berliner Tage für Alte Musik, the Greenwich International Early Music Festival in London and the Boston Early Music Festival. Their live performances and CDs have been broadcast by radio channels all over the world, and they have made several appearances on Dutch national TV.

In 2006, The Royal Wind Music won the Noorderkerk prize during the final of the Vriendenkrans-concours, jointly organised by the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Concertgebouw Orchestra and, during 2009 and again in 2011, were awarded a two-year project subsidy by the Performing Arts Fund. In addition, the ensemble received funding from the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation for the purchase of new instruments.

During the last few years The Royal Wind Music has developed a wide-ranging programme of educational activities. Within the framework of The Royal Wind Music Academy the recorder students at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam receive coaching on the performance of Renaissance consort music. The ensemble has also collaborated with several music schools in The Netherlands, offering workshops and educational concerts to introduce children and adult amateurs to Renaissance music.

Since 2012 group organises the successful biennial four-day festival and competition Open Recorder Days Amsterdam, bringing together hundreds of young players, amateurs, instrument makers and music lovers from The Netherlands, Europe and overseas. The sixth edition of the festival took place in July 2023 in Amsterdam.
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The Royal Wind Music has released eleven CDs on the labels Lindoro and Pan Classics. Their most recent album The Orpheus of Amsterdam was released in 2024 on Pan Classics. In all their CDs The Royal Wind Music sketches their musical universe encompassing Renaissance music from England, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Flanders and a couple of excursions into the Baroque. On their joint album Gratia Plena (2023), The Royal Wind Music and vocal ensemble Psallentes directed by Hendrik Vanden Abeele present a collection of music inspired by the Annunciation by Hans Memling in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
 
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The Royal Wind Music (photo: Eduardus Lee)

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