About Musica Gloria

Musica Gloria is a young, sparkling vocal and instrumental baroque ensemble, led by Beniamino Paganini (traverso, baroque keyboards, maestro al cembalo & musicologist) and Nele Vertommen (baroque oboe, recorder & artistic research). The ensemble aims to bring early music to listeners in an affectful, lively, colourful and historically informed way, on (copies of) historical instruments. Musica Gloria’s repertoire ranges from early to late baroque and from the most famous to unjustly unknown works. Bringing captivating, balanced and well-founded programmes is a must for the ensemble. Depending on the programme and the project, Musica Gloria consists of 2 to about 40 young, enthusiastic soloists. A respectful approach towards it’s musicians, the environment and the music is an essential part of its identity.

Musica Gloria is a young, vibrant baroque ensemble of top international standing and is led by Beniamino Paganini (maestro al cembalo, traverso and harpsichord) and Nele Vertommen (baroque oboe and recorder). The ensemble focuses mainly on baroque repertoire and adapts its instrumentation, (copies of) historical instruments and performance practice to the carefully designed programmes.

Musica Gloria attracts enthusiastic audiences and regularly plays to full houses at national and international venues such as AMUZ (BE), BachFest Leipzig (DE), BOZAR (BE), 30CC (BE), Concertgebouw Brugge (BE), De Bijloke (BE), Internationale Telemann-Gesellschaft Magdeburg (DE), Klara (BE), Les Festivals de Wallonie (BE), MA Festival (BE), Mubafa (BE), Musica Antica (NL), Svatováclavsky Hudební Festival (CZ), Trigonale Festival (AT) and Viaggio in Italia (IT). There is no sitting still with the ensemble, resulting in some 30 concerts a year and many recordings that can be heard on YouTube and Spotify, among others. Besides video recordings, 4 CDs have since been released: Corelli & Handel: Corelli & Handel: Encounters in Rome (2023), The Bachs & The Flute (2022), Fasch’s Oboe (2022) and a CD with a selection of our YouTube recordings (2021). These recordings are listened to worldwide and have already been positively received by numerous radio stations, TV stations and reviewers (including 5 Diapasons, 10/10 in Listen, Disque du jour at Radio France).

Musica Gloria could and can count on the support of enthusiastic volunteers, (long-term) sponsors, crowdfunders, fans and of the Flemish government, cities of Bruges, Knokke and Leuven, and Tax Shelter. The ensemble is very grateful for this help and warmly thanks all those involved. By making conscious choices Musica Gloria likes to do its bit for a sustainable world.

How in began…

Musica Gloria was founded in Bruges in 2006 by the then 12-year-old Beniamino. The ensemble and choir then consisted of some 20 enthusiastic children and young people. They conquered the hearts of young and old with atmospheric baroque Christmas concerts based on old carols. After being selected for the fringe concerts of the MA Festival in Bruges and the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, it further evolved into a professional ensemble with a solid foundation thanks to several projects with very diverse line-ups: from traverso with strings and basso continuo (including successful Bach tour) to orchestral line-ups (Bach-Mozart tour) and from voice with ensemble (Purcell, Handel & Bach tour) to duo concerts (German chamber music with a French touch). In 2020, among other things, the publication of several recordings – both self-published and with Klara and AMUZ – provided a boost.

Discover us

Discover our YouTube Channel, Facebook page, Instagram page, upcoming concerts, some programs, pictures.