SOURCEWORK, based in Boston, Massachusetts, began in 2015 as a collaborative project with the goal of singing music of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries from original notation. At the start, we had no stated objective beyond a new approach to a familiar repertoire.

As the project continued over two years, we became increasingly convinced of source-singing as an investigative method into the practice of this repertoire, which is encoded into notation very differently from our own modern editions. The reliance upon the ear and familiarity with the style required by choirbook and partbook formats, the inconsistency of text underlay and accidentals, and the paucity of such practical aids as measure numbers or rehearsal marks have challenged our collective experience of vocal ensemble music making, and we believe that these and other aspects of the project have given us greater insight into the priorities—and possibilities—of performance in the period. In addition to the concerts below, SOURCEWORK has participated in masterclasses with Joshua Rifkin (The Bach Ensemble/Boston University), Stratton Bull (Cappella Pratensis/Alamire Foundation), Crawford Young (Schola Cantorum, Basel), and Donald Greig (Orlando Consort/Tallis Scholars).

The integration public performance into our project introduced new concern with exactitude, artistry, and consistency, enhancing the project and our engagement with the sources as performers. SOURCEWORK, after its concert debut alongside the renowned Boston Camerata in March 2017, has since presented three full-length concert programs for audiences across New England. In 2018, we recorded the Missa Inclina Domine of Philippe Rogier, currently in production. In the summer of 2018, SOURCEWORK undertook its first tour, performing in York and Cambridge, England, and providing one of the concerts at the annual Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference hosted by Maynooth University in Ireland. SOURCEWORK has also presented lecture-recitals at Boston University and Boston College. In November 2019, SOURCEWORK performed at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society. In November 2021, SOURCEWORK traveled to Germany and Austria to commemorate, after a pandemic delay, the 501st anniversary of the 1520 Liber selectarum cantionum. In 2024, SOURCEWORK debuts in Spain for a performance at the annual Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference in Granada.

If you are interested in booking SOURCEWORK for a concert, lecture-recital, or other event, please email Brett Kostrzewski at bkostrzewski [at] gmail [dot] com.