THE MINISTERS OF PASTIME

Ignacio Ramal and Sara Balasch, Baroque violin | Ángela Moro, Baroque violin and viola | Alaia Ferran, Baroque viola | Marc de la Linde, viola da gamba | Clara Pouvreau, Baroque cello | Alberto Jarra, double bass | Jeremy Nastasi, guitar and theorbo | Joan Seguí, harpsichord and organ

THE MINISTERS OF PASTIME is a group of musicians specialising in historically informed practice, focusing on the performance of repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries. The group takes its name from an expression used by the French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII to describe the search for musicians on the European continent.

The Ministers of Pastime seek to reflect the richness of cultural influences in Europe. Their proposal revolves around the music written for violin consort and its evolution, and these instruments' importance in other later musical genres. In parallel to their training at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (Barcelona), the Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Hague), the Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti (Palermo) and the Abbaye aux Dames (Saintes), the group's members have collaborated with early music ensembles such as Le Concert des Nations, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Academia Montis Regalis, Cappella Mediterranea, Ensemble Pulcinella, European Union Baroque Orchestra, La Real Cámara and the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées.

The Ministers of Pastime have been selected as a group for the EEEMERGING+ programme, which supports and promotes young emerging early music ensembles. In 2020, they were chosen as the winning candidates of the NEWTRACKS@FBAS 2020 call for emerging early music ensembles, within the framework of the Alessandro Stradella Baroque Festival.