Philip Spray

Philip Spray performs, records, and consults with period instrument ensembles and publishers across the country. He co-founded the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra under Barthold Kuijken and later Musik Ekklesia whose first recording The Vanishing Nordic Chorale was part of a 2011 GRAMMY® nomination for Best Classical Producer. He has long maintained interest in writing, composing, teaching, and arranging. His current ensemble Alchymy Viols offers performances from some of America’s finest players on the viola da gamba: Wendy Gillespie, Joanna Blendulf, and Erica Rubis. They perform traditional literature for the viol, but as the ensemble name implies — they also mix viols with diverse musical elements to create an event even richer than the sum of its parts. They have mixed their viols with Indianapolis Early Music Festival bands, Bloomington Early Music, Dana Marsh and the HPI, Jacobs School of Music, with Haymarket Opera’s dancers and director Sarah Edgar. Alchymy has drawn on less-likely collaborations as well: with Scottish folk fiddler Tim MacDonald to create a chamber version of Scotland’s first opera, and with Paul Krasnovsky and Indianapolis’s contemporary music choir Mon Choeur. Alchymy’s most recent project is their recording on Navona Records, DEEP RIVER: SPIRITUALS’ CROSS-CURRENTS.