* En anglais uniquement
Phantasm, sometimes styled
PHANTASM, is among the world's leading viol consorts, especially noted for a large catalog of recordings that cover much of the traditional repertory in the genre as well as other music. With an international membership, the group has held major English university residencies and has performed in many countries.
Phantasm was formed in 1994 by the viol player and musicologist
Laurence Dreyfus, who remains the group's director. The ensemble's membership has remained largely stable; original members
Jonathan Manson (tenor viol), Emilia Benjamin (treble and tenor viols), and
Markku Luolajan-Mikkola (bass viol) continue to perform and have been joined by
Heidi Gröger (viola da gamba). Emeritus members
Mikko Perkola and Wendy Gillespie remain associated with the ensemble, and other players are taken on as needed according to the repertory.
Phantasm has performed in such cities as Istanbul, Helsinki, and Tokyo, as well as around the U.S. and Britain, including three appearances at London's Wigmore Hall during the 2017-2018 season. The ensemble is also a frequent guest at European early music festivals. Beginning in 2005,
Phantasm was based at the University of Oxford as consort-in-residence, and in 2010, the group began a new term as consort-in-residence at Oxford's Magdalen College. In 2015,
Phantasm moved its base of operations to Berlin, where
Dreyfus lives.
The group's catalog of more than 20 recordings, beginning with an album of
Henry Purcell's Complete Fantasies for Viols issued on the Simax label in 1995, is especially noteworthy.
Phantasm later recorded for Avie, Channel Classics, and other labels, and since 2009, has been associated with Linn Records. The group has recorded albums devoted to all of the major English viol composers, including John Dowland,
John Jenkins, and
Christopher Tye, and has also ventured beyond that repertory. In
2020 and
2021,
Phantasm released two albums of keyboard music of
Bach arranged for viol consort.