The Curious Bards

Sarah Van Oudenhove began playing the viola da gamba at the age of six in Christian Sala's class at the Perpignan Conservatoire. In 1995, she joined Coen Engelhard's class at the Toulouse Conservatoire, and in 2003 Marianne Muller's class at the CNSMD in Lyon, from which she graduated in 2008. She has taken part in numerous courses and masterclasses with some of the greatest names in early music, including Jerôme Hantaï, Wieland Kuijken, Christophe Coin and Jordi Savall. 

Today, she regularly performs and records with ensembles such as Achéron, Sonadori, La Chapelle Rhénane, Poème Harmonique, Clématis, Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Capella Mediterranea and the Namur Chamber Choir. Alongside this extensive career, she is passionate about contemporary Irish traditional music. She has undertaken a whole programme of reflection and research into the performance of early Irish and Scottish music on the viol, her favourite instrument. This interest and long-term work on early Gaelic music has led her to take part professionally in several traditional music festivals (Celti'cimes, Tocane, etc.).

September 2024