Nora Tabbush / Ensemble Mare Nostrum / Andrea De Carlo NUEVA ESPAÑA

Ensemble Mare Nostrum a roman ensemble directed by Andrea De Carlo, is one of the most original and surprising baroque ensembles, already a reference to the Roman Baroque music and especially the works of the great composer Alessandro Stradella.

Founded in 2005, the Ensemble Mare Nostrum begins as a "Consort of Viols". But the ensemble opens immediately to a wider repertoire, to explore the relationship between language, affetti and nature of sounds. The personal research of Andrea De Carlo in this field opens new prospects in technique and aesthetic of 17th c. vocal music.

Music for "Consort of Viols" but also the interpretation of works for organ and harpsichord - a common practice in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - has led the Ensemble Mare Nostrum to different projects: an original orchestration of ORGELBUCHLEIN by J. S. Bach for MA Recordings (USA) receives the unanimous applause of the international critic, and the Diapason "Decouverte" in the French magazine DIAPASON (May 2011). A CD dedicated to French polyphony LE CONCERT DES VIOLES for the label RICERCAR (OUTHERE) is awarded with 5 Diapason (January 2010), and “Coup de coeur” 2010 by the Charles Cros Academy in Paris.

In 2012 is released for the label ALPHA (OUTHERE) the Cd "NUEVA ESPAÑA", a journey between the Spanish and Mexican music from the Renaissance to modern times.

Nora Tabbush began her vocal studies at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música in Buenos Aires, where she was born. Several years later she graduated from the Centre de Musique Ancienne of the Conservatoire de musique in Geneva. She pursued her studies further in both opera and chamber music with Marta Blanco, Doris Andrews and Anatoli Goussev, and in baroque music with Mark Tucker and Roberta Invernizzi. 

In 2011 she won the First Prize in Vocal Music from il Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Her career has been developed above all in Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Italy, where she currently lives. 

The ensemble Mare Nostrum (dir. Andrea De Carlo) and Nora Tabbush (a worthy heir to Montserrat Figueras) here revive some pure treasures of Spanish music. Combining early instruments (viola da gamba, cornetto, etc.) with traditional ones, they bring out all the colours of these songs and dances that were to be heard in New Spain. New Spain, the Spanish viceroyalty (1535-1821), stretched from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah (United States) to Costa Rica in Central America, with Mexico City as its capital. It administered not only the territory within those limits, but also the Philippines in Asia and various small islands in the Pacific, such as Guam.