Statements by Bruno de Sà and Jonathan Sells, 2027 Ambassadors
“I am deeply honoured to be an ambassador for Early Music Day 2027, alongside Jonathan Sells.
I grew up in Brazil, far from the courts and theatres where this music was born. Yet, from the moment I first sang Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora, I felt immediately at home. Baroque music was written for voices that dared to be different. In it, I discovered a repertoire that welcomed a voice like mine and allowed it to express itself freely. For me, this is proof that early music belongs neither to a single country nor to a single era. It belongs to everyone who is moved by it.
Every time I perform this repertoire, I discover just how modern it is. The emotions are direct: love, grief, anger and joy are expressed with an intensity that continues to move audiences today. Our role as performers is to bring these works back to life with curiosity and freedom, so that they never become mere museum pieces.
On 21 March, I invite everyone, especially young people, to open the door to this musical world. You may find, as I did, a home where you least expected it.”
Bruno de Sá — Ambassador 2027
“When I look ahead to the future of the early music scene in Europe in 2027, I am filled with optimism. With organisations like REMA bringing performers, academics, promoters and audiences together across the sector, the future looks bright for this thriving part of our cultural life.
Why do we speak of ‘early’ music? Ancienne? Alt? These labels set our beloved repertoire in opposition to something else: the late, the modern, the new. In some ways, this is absurd: can you imagine a ‘European Association of Late Music’? To me, the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries defies our clumsy attempts to categorise it, shattering these labels. It becomes aktuell — contemporary music, the music of the present. The more we look to the past, study it and learn about it, the more we also look to the future and learn about ourselves.
The growing appetite for historically informed performance practice and the music of bygone eras demonstrates the contemporary relevance of what we call ‘old’ music. And it is easy to see why: audiences are constantly discovering new composers, new repertoires, new works and new sounds. This is, in fact, ‘new music’ — a treasure trove that seems inexhaustible. As we become more aware of the stories of our past, we fill in the gaps, correct falsehoods and challenge oversimplifications, reshaping our understanding of who we are today. We rediscover and give a voice once more to those who have been forgotten, yet helped shape these stories.
The richness of learning, research and the redefinition of ‘History’, together with the questioning of what this weighty, seemingly fixed concept actually represents, teaches us not to take anything for granted: what we have, what we are accustomed to, or what we assume to be true. It is this spirit of questioning and discovery in the present that makes ‘early’, ‘old’ music feel so relevant and so new to me.”
Jonathan Sells — Ambassador 2027
