The Whole Noyse performs on modern reproductions of 16th century instruments. Stephen Escher plays curved cornetts; Richard Van Hessel and Sandy Stadtfeld play sackbuts; and Herbert Myers plays the curtal, ancestor of the bassoon. The Whole Noyse derives its name from a musical term dating from medieval England, when a group of loud wind instruments was called a "noise." Later, the word came to refer to sets of wind instruments in general: in 1584, an English town band called the Norwich Waits considered a set of five instruments as "beeying a Whoall noyse."
Herb Myers -- Richard Van Hessel -- Stephen Escher -- Sandy Stadtfeld
The Whole Noyse had its first concert together in 1986. The group, based in the San Francisco area, plays brass and wind music from 16th and 17th century Europe. Performances by The Whole Noyse both in Europe and North America have been enthusiastically received. Their recordings include "Lo Splendore d'Italia" and collaborations with various ensembles of music by Bach and Praetorius, as well as early Italian opera and 17th century Italian sacred music. The Whole Noyse performs on modern reproductions of cornetts, sackbuts and curtal; instruments that made up the primary professional wind group of the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 1990, The Whole Noyse made its European debut, with concerts in the Regensburg Festival in Germany and at the Vigado in Budapest. From a review in the Mittelbayrische Zeitung (6/4/90), "...the cornetts played with outstanding control of their instruments" and "...the Americans played with a supple and balanced sound texture by which they achieved a wonderfully transparent polyphony."
The Whole Noyse performs often with Baroque orchestras and has countless collaborations with west coast choirs and early music ensembles. The Whole Noyse performed at the 1995 Historic Brass Society Symposium in Amherst, Massachusetts. The ensemble is an affiliate of the San Francisco Early Music Society. The California Arts Council has recently awarded The Whole Noyse a fourth prestigious grant for touring in California, covering a period of eight years.
For more information about The Whole Noyse, contact:
Stephen Escher
877 Sycamore Drive
Palo Alto, California 94303
USA
Tel: 650-494-6474
E-mail: sescher@sbcglobal.net
Comments concerning this website should be directed to:
Richard Van Hessel
E-mail: rvh13@mac.com
Last update: May 19, 2004