Hespèrion XXI is an international early music ensemble that formed in Basel in 1974. The group was established as Hespèrion XX by the musical director Jordi Savall, the soprano Montserrat Figueras, the flutist Lorenzo Alpert, and the lutenist Hopkinson Smith. They achieved professional recognition for their scholarship and are famous for the liberal use of improvisation in performing medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. Their debut studio recording, Weltliche Musik im christlichen und jüdischen Spanien (1450–1550), was released in 1976. The ensemble was renamed Hespèrion XXI in 2000. Their discography includes the recordings Canciones y Danzas de España (1977), Cansós de Trobairitz (1978), and El barroco español (1978). The group has received numerous honors, including the Grand Prix de l’académie du Disque Français, the Edison-Prijs Amsterdam, and a Grammy Award for the recording Dinastia Borgia (2010).
