René Clemencic – born in Vienna, Austria on February 27, 1928 – was an acclaimed harpsichordist, recorder player, composer, conductor, and musicologist. He is now considered a pioneer in the rediscovery and revival of medieval music. Interested in music at an early age, he studied the piano, harpsichord, and recorder. He also studied philosophy, mathematics, and ethnology in college, obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna. Already a virtuoso on the harpsichord, clavichord, and recorder, he began his music career in 1957. He founded the Ensemble Musica Antiqua in 1958 in order to perform early music on period instruments. A decade later, he founded the Clemencic Consort, an ensemble created to revisit and revive interest in Renaissance and Baroque music as well as compositions from the Middle Ages. Like the Ensemble Musica Antiqua, they performed their music on period instruments. As a composer, he also wrote works that were performed by ensembles around the world including his own Clemencic Consort. René Clemencic released many recordings during his career including Danses de la Renaissance (1961), Carmina Burana (1977), Molière [B.O.F.] (1978), A. Scarlatti: Il Giardino d'Amore (1988), Mysterium Passionis et Resurrectionis (1992), Hans Sachs and His Time (1995), Ockeghem: Sacred Music (1998), Harant - Handl-Gallus (2003), Sacred Music at the Vienna Court Chapel (2008), and Gabrieli: Canzoni et Sonate, 1615 (2014). There were also several compilations of his works released over the course of his career. René Clemencic passed away at the age of 94 on March 8, 2022.
