The Quinta Essentia quartet is the main Brazilian recorder ensemble, and one of the most important chamber music groups of the present time. Its unusual formation of four musicians but only one instrument inspires new works, encourages new audiences and promotes Brazilian culture and chamber music in different countries.

“Once all members played together, it created a sound unmatched by anything I’ve heard before. It was music of the heavens, and the quartet was the angelic ensemble playing at the gates”
(NEIU Independent, 2016)

A concert by Quinta Essentia is a magical time in which the endless possibilities of the recorder can be experienced. Performing in an eclectic and very musical way, Quinta Essentia introduces the versatility of the recorder and its family of instruments in different musical settings. In an unusual and independent ensemble line-up the Ensemble shows that the recorder is a delightful musical instrument suitable for all audiences.

In its international career the group has performed in Australia, Portugal, United States, France, Bolivia, Namibia, China, Italy and Germany, giving concerts at important events such as the opening of the Francesco Maria Ruspoli Prize for baroque music in Italy, and at festivals dedicated to Early Music, at the International Festival of American Renaissance and Baroque Music “Misiones de Chiquitos”, the Festival Les Festes Baroques en Terre des Graves et du Sauternais, at Whitewater Early Music Festival, at Encontro de Música Antiga de Loulé and Woodend Winter Arts Festival.

“It is more than a musical ensemble – it is part of a movement on behalf of the recorder and spreading the potential of this instrument”
(Andre Egg, music review, 2009)

The national music reviews highlight Quinta Essentia’s great contribution to the Brazilian recorder music scene by broadening the number of performances for the instrument, producing content through their blog and forming new audiences through concerts FLAUTA, FLAUTINHA, FLAUTÃO!

In 2007 the group created the ENFLAMA – the National Meeting for the recorder. Organizing three of the seven itinerant events (2007, 2012, 2013), bringing together flutists from several Brazilian states and from different Latin American countries. This is how the group brought the renowned recorder player Paul Leenhouts (Netherlands / USA) to Brazil. Quinta Essentia and Paul Leenhouts have worked together on several occasions, such as at the concert held at MASP Concerto Hall in 2012, and the artist residency in 2015, a milestone for the Brazilian recorder community.

“A curious ensemble that presents the sound of the recorder in a different approach”
(Paraná Online, 2009)

Winner of several awards, the group is producing an important discography for the recorder in Brazil. The album “La Marca” (2008) was a result of the Stimulus Award 2007’ from the Secretary of State for Culture in São Paulo, their second album featuring Brazilian Music “Falando Brasileiro” (2014), and the third one, The Art of Fugue (2017) released by the German Label ARS-Produktion the group marked the presence of the recorder in the international chamber music landscape.

“An enthralling version of The Art of Fugue, the monument of 14 fugues and five canons on a single theme. (…)
The result is rapturous.”

(João Marcos Coelho – Estadão, Ago/2017)

The collection of instruments used by the group contains both ancient and modern instruments. Besides baroque recorders , the group makes use of a Renaissance consort by the luthier Adrian Brown, and modern recorders such as the “square recorders” as they are known affectionately by the Brazilian public, the harmonic recorders – Helder and Tarasov ones, the “dream recorders”, and in addition, the newest member: the Eagle recorder. This interesting collection of instruments from the recorder family turns each concert into an experience which is even richer for the public.

All members of the Quinta Essentia are also recorder teachers. This artistic activity is of utmost importance for music education, as an artistic example for the students. Thus, in parallel with their artistic career, the group members are constantly involved in pedagogical training to teach young musicians and music lovers to a standard of excellence.

Quinta Essentia introduces the beauty which the results of their research into the repertoire and interpretation bring to the purpose of spreading awareness of the recorder, its repertoire and also new music composed especially for the group. This mastery feeds the history of such an old instrument and its literature into our time.