What is Windu?

 

 

Windu is an UNUSUAL RECORDER QUARTET that combine EARLY AND MODERN REPERTOIRE with compelling and contemporary staging. Our goal is to break away from the traditional concert experience by offering appealing STAGE SHOWS FOR ALL AUDIENCES.

 

This aim led to the creation of several shows with a production which included stage direction, costume design, light design, sound design, and choreography in order to encourage the instrument to be known in a different and innovative way and to engage new audiences for classical music.

 

Windu has performed in MOSCOW, PRAGUE, LITHUANIA and throughout Spain (Festival Internacional de Santander, Festival de Música antigua de Úbeda y Baeza, Festival Antiqua de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Festival de Música de Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife), La Gayarre del Teatro Real, Auditorio Centro Centro), and the premier of Wind was in Teatro Fernán Gómez (Madrid).

 

Windu has won four awards from the Association of Spanish Early Music Ensembles (GEMA), including: Best Youth Ensemble, Best Innovative Show (Under construction), Best Innovate Show (Wind) and the public choice award for Best Early Music Ensemble.

 

In addition, it was the finalist for the REMA (Early Music in Europe) Award for Best Innovative Show for Wind.

In the past year, Windu has premiered ¡Bailamos! Música y danzas de las noches españolas del Renacimiento (Let’s Dance! Music and Dances of Spanish Renaissance Nights), a concert-format show featuring the participation of a percussionist, which had its international debut in Lithuania. *¡Bailamos!* is a lively and interactive show designed to be performed in any space, as it does not require any technical resources to be staged.

 

But far from resting on our laurels, Windu has premiered Winduvision, a new large-scale production designed for theaters and auditoriums, which debuted at the Eduard Toldrà Auditorium in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Winduvision is a production featuring the most advanced technical and artistic team we’ve ever worked with and has received support from ICEC, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Winduvisión is the Windu show that definitively breaks the boundary between music and stage performance.

 

As our motto says:

 

We don’t just make music. We don’t just make theatre.

 

We make Windu!

The Windu sound

 

A small human organ

 

Windu, not unlike a craftsman, works with the characteristic tone of the recorder to bring out the emotions in music which touch us most. For this reason, the group not only perform typical recorder ensemble repertoire, but also contemporary music. Windu commits to adopting an innovative perspective to early music arrangements, such as introducing the use electronic music.

 

Emerged at the end of the 14th century, the recorder is an instrument that has been evolving organologically according to the needs of each musical period. In this way, we can speak of five large groups of recorder models: medieval, renaissance, transitional, baroque and modern. Windu combines these models in each show according to the repertoire that they are playing.

 

Furthermore, we believe that the best way to promote our ancestral instrument is through a stage design which puts it the spotlight. For this reason, during the creative process we integrate our musical sound with theatrical stage direction in order to bring us closer to our concept of a comprehensive production.

Who are we?

EVA JORNET

 

Recorder player, early bassoon player and music educator at the Sabadell Conservatoire of Music (Barcelona). She has worked as a stage musician with the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, Nao d’Amores company, Teatro Cornucopia and the Abadía theater. She has also performed as a soloist in several barroque operas at the Teatro Real of Madrid.

 

Eva studied at the Barcelona Conservatoire of Music, receiving the highest grade. She continued her studies at the Conservatoire Montserrat Caballé in Perpignan where she studied under Fanette Estrade and received a diploma in musical studies specialising in medieval music. Eva went on to obtain a Bachelor’s in Music at the Conservatoire of Music Manuel Castillo in Seville where she studied under Vicente Parrilla and received the highest grade. Awarded with an ERASMUS scholarship, she also studied under Pedro Couto Soares at the Lisbon Conservatoire of Music. She obtained a master’s in Early Music Performance at the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC) and received several masterclasses with Maurice Steger in Switzerland. Eva has also been accepted to the Amsterdam Conservatoire of Music.

 

She has worked as a stage musician with the Nao d’Amores company, performing in nine of their shows, and has been involved in co-productions with the Abadía Theatre, the National Classical Theatre Company, and the Cornucopia Theatre in Lisbon, under the direction of Ana Zamora and the musical direction of Alicia Lázaro.

 

She has collaborated with various early music groups, including, Opus 5, Música Ficta, Tactus Collective, Orquesta de Cambra del Penedés, Sforzinda, and has performed as a soloist at the Teatro Real with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.

 

In 2016, together with Marcel Leal, she created Windu, an ensemble which has received several awards and has performed at various festivals in different countries.

TAMAR LALO

 

Recorder player and music teacher at the Conservatorio Superior de música de Castilla y León (Salamanca).

 

Internationally renowned recorder player and soloist specializing in early music, recognized for her technical versatility and expressive sensitivity. She is the artistic director of Ensemble Echo et Dulce, a founding member of La Ritirata, and a regular collaborator with some of Europe’s most prestigious Baroque ensembles. Her career is defined by a commitment to interpretative excellence and the revival of historical repertoire on the world’s leading stages.

 

She combines an intense concert career with teaching, and is currently professor of recorder at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Castilla y León (COSCYL).

 

Based in Madrid since 2010, she has developed a distinguished performing career that has taken her across Europe, Japan, Canada, China, Chile, Israel, Mexico, and Colombia, among others. She has appeared at major festivals such as Universo Barroco of the CNDM, the Malta International Baroque Festival, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg (Germany), and the Varaždin Baroque Evenings (Croatia), performing in renowned venues including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, and the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao.

 

Her extensive discography with labels such as Pan Classics, Harmonia Mundi, and Glossa has received widespread critical acclaim in leading European publications, earning distinctions such as “Exceptional Record of the Month” from Scherzo magazine, the “Melómano de Oro,” as well as “4 étoiles” in Classica (France), along with outstanding reviews in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine (UK). In 2023, she released her first solo album, The Celebrated San Martini (Pan Classics), to excellent international reception.

 

Her recordings for labels such as Glossa, Pan Classics, and Harmonia Mundi have been widely praised, receiving awards such as Scherzo’s “Disco Excepcional,” the “Melómano de Oro,” and “4 étoiles” in Classica. In 2023, she released her debut solo album, The Celebrated San Martini (Pan Classics), to outstanding international acclaim. Together with La Ritirata, she was awarded the “El Ojo Crítico” Prize by Spain’s National Radio (RNE).

MARCEL LEAL

 

Recorder player, script writer, filmmaker, industrial engineer and music teacher at the Conservatori Professional de Música de Badalona (Barcelona).

 

Marcel Leal obtained his Higher Degree in Music, specializing in Recorder, from the Liceo Conservatory of Music in Barcelona, after taking classes with Lluís Casso and Sara Parés, among others. He also studied composition and orchestration with Alejandro Civilotti and Josep Soler and took various courses in synthesizer, sampler, and sequencer programming. In recent years, he has taken medieval music courses with Mauricio Molina and completed a Master’s degree in Musicology, Education, and Interpretation of Early Music at Esmuc (Higher School of Music of Catalonia) and the UAB (Autonomous University of Barcelona), receiving classes from Pedro Memelsdorff and presenting a research project based on the music of the pilgrimage routes of the Camino de Santiago in the Middle Ages.

 

An Industrial Engineer by training from UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia) with a final project funded by UNESCO, he also studied Screenwriting and Film Directing at C.E.C.C. (Center for Film Studies of Catalonia), where he took classes with Michel Gaztambide, Luís Aller, and Xavi Puebla, among others. He later enhanced his training with several Documentary Directing courses taught by Patricio Guzmán and José Luis Guerín.

 

As a musician, he has participated in numerous productions and ensembles, notably the Duo Scherzo (specializing in original music for flute and piano from the 20th and 21st centuries), Sforzinda (a group specializing in Renaissance music for Consort), Stalker, and especially Windu and Novum Organum, an ensemble directed by Marcel Leal himself. This Christmas, they premiered the Mystery of the Three Kings of the Orient at the church of Santa María del Pi in Barcelona; a significant work of old Catalan medieval theater that the ensemble has revived after 400 years with a meticulous historical reconstruction, earning wide recognition and success with audiences, as well as extensive coverage in media such as TVE, TV3, and RNE, and written press like El Punt Avui and the newspaper Núvol, among others.

 

In the audiovisual field, Marcel Leal has made several music videos, documentaries, and short films. Notable works include “Vida mía,” a short film shot in 35 mm and subsidized by ICAA, and especially “Los años del silencio,” a short film shot in 35 mm, subsidized by ICAA and ICIC, which won several awards and was selected for more than 50 festivals worldwide, including the Alpinale Film Festival in Austria, the Tokyo Film Festival in Japan, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France, the Tangier Mediterranean Festival in Morocco, and the San Diego Film Festival in the USA. Another notable work is “Daido,” a music video for a classical music piece that won the Akademia Music Award in Los Angeles (USA) for best music video. He has also composed music for several advertising campaigns, notably the Volkswagen spot for Telefónica’s digital channel cinema. Additionally, he has created visual designs and video projections for the shows “Under construction” and “Wind” by the Windu quartet and the stage direction for the show “Mystery of the Three Kings of the Orient.”

 

In recent years, his work in the audiovisual world has focused on writing scripts for the feature films “Guiomar, la musa esquiva” for the production company Ibolca Films, and “Trémolo” and “In vino veritas” for the production company Orreaga Filmak. Currently, he is preparing the stage and musical direction for the show “Ultreia et suseia,” led by the ensemble Novum Organum and inspired by the vespers festivals of the Middle Ages.

 

Since 2011, he has combined his activities in the audiovisual, stage, and concert fields with teaching at the Professional Conservatory of Music of Badalona.

CHRIS ORTON

 

Recorder player, conductor and Dalcroze Eurhythmics Specialist. Music educator at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in addition to being the president of the ERTA branch in the United Kingdom.

 

He studied recorder in Birmingham UK with Ross Winters and Annabel Knight, and in Amsterdam with Anneke Boeke. He won 2nd Prize in the Krzysztof Penderecki Competition for Contemporary Music in 2006, a BBC Fame Academy Bursary in 2007, and 1st prize at the Moeck/SRP International Solo Recorder Player Competition in 2007.

 

As a teacher, Chris runs the recorder departments at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Chetham’s School of Music, is a guest tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and teaches at L’Escola Joan Llongueres in Barcelona. He is chair of the ERTA UK branch, and musical director for the National Youth Recorder Orchestras UK summer courses. He has given masterclasses and concerts in Singapore, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Spain and the UK, and premiered new compositions for recorder from composers worldwide.

 

Chris enjoys working with live electronics, multimedia and multi-disciplinary performance, and works with dance and theatre on a regular basis. He has recorded for NAXOS label.