Ariel Abramovich

Ariel Abramovich studied lute and vihuela with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and subsequently in France with Eugène Ferré. In 1998 he formed “El Cortesano” with counter-tenor José Hernández-Pastor to explore the Spanish vihuela repertoire, and in 2002  the duo released the first-ever album solely devoted to Valladolid vihuela composer Estevan Daça. In 2009 the duo released an album devoted to another rarely heard vihuelista, Salamanca-born Diego Pisador.

In 2008 he began working on the 16th & 17th century English lute song repertoire with tenor John Potter, and this duo became the catalyst for the Amores Pasados and Secret History recordings on ECM with Anna Maria Friman and Jacob Heringman. Their Alternative History project re-imagines renaissance polyphony as lute song (as musicians would have done in the 16th and 17th centuries) and has commissioned new music from rock musicians John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Tony Banks (Genesis) and Sting. Ariel and Jacob Heringman have also released Cifras Imagnarias, an album of intabulations for two lutes on Arcana.

In 2013 Ariel formed the duo Armonía Concertada with soprano Maria Cristina Kiehr, a project dedicated to the 16th Century Iberian repertoire for voice and plucked strings, and he has recently begun working with soprano Perrine Devillers on musical texts from the XVI Century.

Ariel is also active as a teacher and has given masterclasses at conservatories and educational institutions all over the world, including Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, the US, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.