Lorely Traverso Consort

The Loreley Traverso Consort, founded in Basel in 2024, is dedicated to the rediscovery and performance of Renaissance music on historical transverse flutes. The ensemble brings together professional musicians of international background who met at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Their artistic identity is inspired by the German legend of the Loreley: a beautiful maiden who, in despair over an unfaithful lover, threw herself into the Rhine and was transformed into a siren, whose song lured fishermen to their doom. The myth is associated with the Lorelei rock near Sankt Goarshausen, known for its echo, and was famously shaped in literature by Clemens Brentano and later by Heinrich Heine, whose poem Die Loreley (1824) has been set to music by numerous composers.

The origins of this legend can already be traced back to the Renaissance, where the image of the siren intersects with allegories of Fortuna and the eternal soul. An additional source of inspiration for our work is a Renaissance print preserved at the Kunstmuseum Basel, depicting a female figure playing a traverso, evoking the image of the Loreley enchanting her listeners. The inscription “NKAW” (Niemand kann alles wissen – “Nobody can know everything”) further reflects the humanistic spirit that informs our programmes.

The Lorely Traverso Consort are Darina Ablogina, Holly Scarborough, Tommaso Simonetta Sandri and Adele Mariniuk.