The ensemble Diskantores (‘singers of polyphony’) was founded in 2015 by students, alumni and teachers of the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague (Netherlands). Diskantores proposes a fresh approach to fourteenth- and fifteenth-century polyphony, sung by male voices, in innovative, engaging performances. Its interpretations are informed by an in-depth understanding of the repertoire and its historical context, as well experiments with improvised polyphony and singing from original notation.
Diskantores has appeared at the Utrecht Early Music Festival (2015) and the festival Laus Polyphoniae (Antwerp, 2016) with presentations on vocal improvisation in the later middle ages, and regularly performs in the Netherlands, Belgium, as well as other European countries. Its first album Hollandse Fragementen (muso, 2021) has been saluted as an important addition to the discography of medieval music. Diskantores is directed by Niels Berentsen (tenor), members include Oscar Verhaar (countertenor), Andrew Hallock (countertenor), Benjamin Jago Larham (tenor), Vincent Chomienne (tenor), and João Luís Paixão (bariton).