List of early music ensembles - Definition

An early music ensemble is one that specializes in performing music of the European classical tradition from the Baroque era and before, i.e. generally music before 1750. The following is a list of those groups which have a substantial output of commercially available recordings.

Some of these groups "cross over" into other genres, such as folk music.

Name in parentheses is the current director. Most, but not all, of these groups are advocates of authentic performance, and attempt to recreate the music as it might have sounded at the time it was written, using authentic instruments and modifying playing techniques according to the most recent scholarly research into music of the time.

• The Academy of Ancient Music (founded by Christopher Hogwood, currently directed by Paul Goodwin) (Wide range from medieval to Baroque music, with occasional recordings of contemporary music, for example by John Tavener)
• Anonymous 4 (all-female a cappella ensemble specializing in medieval music; disbanding 2005)
• Altramar
• Les Arts Florissants (William Christie) (mostly music of the early Baroque, some late Renaissance)
• Baltimore Consort (specializing in music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras, as well as English-language folk music)
• Martin Best
• Broadside Band
• Chanticleer
• La Chapelle Royale (Philippe Herreweghe)
• Choir of Westminster Abbey (Simon Preston)
• City Waites
• Concerto Palatino (early German and Italian Baroque music)
• Alfred Deller Consort (medieval and Renaissance music)
• Dufay Collective
• English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner) (Baroque music)
• Ensemble Clément Janequin (Renaissance and early Baroque music)
• Fretwork
• Gothic Voices (medieval and Renaissance music)
• The Harp Consort/ Harp Orchestra
• The Hilliard Ensemble (mostly Medieval and Renaissance music, with occasional recordings of contemporary music, for example that by Arvo Pärt)
• His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts
• Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
• King's Noyse
• The King's Singers
• Magpie Lane
• Mediaeval Baebes
• Musica Antiqua Köln (mostly Baroque chamber music)
• David Munrow - Early Music Consort of London and Musica Reservata
• Philip Pickett - New London Consort and Musicians of The Globe
• St George's Canzona
• Sarband
• Jordi Savall - Hesperion XX/ Hesperion XXI
• Sequentia
• Sirinu
• The Sixteen (Harry Christophers) (mostly a cappella music of the Renaissance)
• Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (Christopher Jackson) (Mostly music of the Renaissance and early Baroque)
• The Tallis Scholars (a cappella Renaissance music)
• Toronto Consort
• Westminster Cathedral Choir (David Hill)
• York Waits