Compagnia di Punto

Germany's Compagnia di Punto approaches the performance of Baroque and Classical-era music with an unusual flexible ensemble that evokes the roots of the instruments involved: transverse flute, horn, and strings. The group is known for a programming approach that stresses narrative qualities. Compagnia di Punto was founded in 2010 in Cologne. The members were all accomplished players who had risen through the city's vigorous early music scene; several were conductors or teachers as well as performers. Compagnia di Punto has 13 members: four violinists; one each of viola, cello, and bass; two flutes; bassoon; and three horns. The ensemble thus lies on the boundary between chamber music and orchestral music, and they have played music from both realms, largely drawn from the Baroque and Classical eras, but their performances have extended forward into the Romantic and contemporary eras on occasion. The group's membership is international, comprising Europeans, Americans, and Asians. They state their aesthetic in abstract terms: "Primaeval sounds, hunting calls, signals. Urgency, initiative, freedom. Lamento, Passione, Trionfo. Myths, chronicles, visions: Elements out of which the music of Compagnia di Punto evolves. Concerts tell stories. Stories made up of sounds and words." Their performances often involve cross-genre collaborations encompassing literature and/or theater. Their performances consist of various types, including traditional classical concerts, word-and-sound collages, what they call "panaudium" (wherein structures develop from a single sound), children's concerts, concerts involving a lecturer or moderator, and concerts tailored to specific audiences according to that audience's desire. The group offers specific thematic programs such as "Between Dungeon and Crown," "Signals," "Robbed Kisses, Stolen Hearts," and "Beethoven's Salon Music." The "Between Dungeon and Crown" program spawned Compagnia di Punto's first recording, Zwischen Kerker und Krone, which appeared on the Coviello Classics label in 2011. The group then moved to Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and released several albums devoted to the Classical-era composer Antonio Rosetti (ca. 1750-1792). In 2020, Compagnia di Punto released an album of small-group arrangements of Beethoven's first three symphonies by Ferdinand Ries and Karl Friedrich Ebers.
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