The vocal ensemble Profeti della Quinta was founded in the Galilee region of Israel by the bass singer and harpsichordist Elam Rotem and is based in Basel, Switzerland, where its members undertook further studies of early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The ensemble focuses on the vocal repertoire of the 16th and early 17th Centuries. From its core of five male singers, the ensemble collaborates regularly with instrumentalists and additional singers.

Over a period of five years, Swiss directors Norbert Wiedmer and Peter Guyer documented the activity of legendary producer Manfred Eicher, the founder and driving force behind ECM Records, whose advocacy of progressive jazz and of classical composers like Arvo Pärt, Meredith Monk, Valentin Silvestrov, and György Kurtág changed the landscape of contemporary music in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The film Sounds and Silence: Travels with Manfred Eicher was released in 2009 and this 2011 soundtrack album is made up largely of tracks taken from previously released ECM albums that Eicher produced, some from as early as 1980. Most of the pieces are low-key and understated and feature chamber ensembles, although there are several piano tracks and several featuring orchestra or chorus. The album has a mix of selections from ECM's classical and jazz repertoire, and from the label's specialty, the many pieces that lie somewhere in between the two.

An alter ego (second or different self) is both a close companion to the individual as well as an additional personality. David Orlowsky and David Bergmüller are companions, however, they could hardly be more different. They hail from different musical traditions and the combination of these two instruments have no historical references. When David Orlowsky first discovered a video of David Bergmüller on the internet, he was not aware that he had encountered his musical alter ego. The two met in Berlin and mutually agreed to make music together after just a few shared notes. They became companions, which then became a duo, the duo ultimately becoming an organism. Within this organism, David and David function as opposing and complementary personalities. Together they embark on a journey into unexplored worlds of sound. The clarinet is the voice of bygone times while the lute joins to create polyrhythmic structures allowing both new and old times to flow together in their original compositions.

Born in New York in 1946, Swiss-American lutenist Hopkinson Smith graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music in 1972. His instrumental studies took him to Europe where he worked with Emilio Pujol, a great pedagogue in the highest Catalan artistic tradition, and with the Swiss lutenist, Eugen Dombois, whose sense of organic unity between performer, instrument, and historical period has had lasting effects on him. He has been involved in numerous chamber music projects and was one of the founding members of the ensemble Hespèrion XX. Since the mid-80’s, he has focused almost exclusively on the solo repertoires for early plucked instrument, producing a series of prize-winning recordings for Astrée and Naïve, which feature Spanish music for vihuela and baroque guitar, French lute music of the Renaissance and baroque, English and Italian music of the 16th early 17th century and music from the German high baroque.

Between 2000 and 2005, L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar opened up new ways in the rediscovery and interpretation of the Baroque repertoires. The five recordings made for Alpha are some of the greatest disc successes in these repertoires and still stand as references, thanks to the exceptional quality of their artistic and sound achievement.

A passionate soprano and a dynamic continuo are the irresistible elements of Capriola Di Gioia, the Belgian ensemble around Amaryllis Dieltiens and Bart Naessens. AEOLUS listeners already know them from their collaboration with the Flanders Recorder Quartet. The young musicians are already firmly established in the Belgian and Dutch music scene.