![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/group-shot-1-1.jpg?resize=900%2C566)
We’re not classical
The African Renaissance Ensemble is a group of Johannesburg based musicians, striving to infect South Africans with our love for early music.
Our goal is to bring this exquisite, little known and seldom performed music to modern audiences in a vibrant, relevant and exciting way whilst still respecting the music and connected performance practices.
Join our mailing list
We won’t spam you or share your details. We send out an email approximately once per month with details of upcoming concerts and events. If you want to keep up to date with our performances, please share your name, surname and email address below!
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/are-logo-final-4.jpg?w=750&resize=900%2C419)
In 2017, after returning from conducting a choir at a festival dedicated to the music of Salomone Rossi in Berlin, Adam H. Golding decided to make his dream of a renaissance instrumental and vocal ensemble a reality. The ensemble began with a violinist, cellist and guitarist who were not really familiar with the repertoire, but quickly fell in love with it. At first we preformed entirely on modern instruments and the first concert was accompanying the Lewandowski Chorale in a concert of music by Salomone Rossi and his contemporaries. The following year, a vocal quartet of early music lovers was formed as a part of the ensemble.
Over time, we have had many new members join the ensemble, most of whom have had training in period performance and we are now at a point where we play almost exclusively on period instruments.
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/67206298_2202481263198063_4049667067886960640_n.jpg?w=750&resize=900%2C914)
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/66638432_2202481793198010_5924850661198921728_n.jpg?w=750&resize=900%2C813)
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/66647544_2202481309864725_532140834452144128_n.jpg?w=750&resize=900%2C740)
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/small-group-1-edited.jpg?resize=724%2C725)
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/baroque-mandolin-1.jpg?resize=900%2C608)
Our Instruments
The instruments of the renaissance and baroque periods are unusual, and exciting. Check some of them out here:
Concerts
Do not expect a symphony concert. Our performances are not the formal affairs that one expects from a symphony concert, opera or classical chamber concert and neither is the music that we perform. In fact, almost all of the music we play predates the idea of a concert! You will certainly not find our musicians performing in suit and tie, so feel free to dress however feels appropriate.
Carlos V:
Music of the Emperor
PRETORIA
02 June 2024, 15:00
Madness, Mischief, and Mistresses
PRETORIA
08 September 2024, 11:30
![](https://africanrenaissanceensemble.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/instruments.jpg?w=900)