Antico / Moderno is a journey into music embellished throughout the ages, proving that this ractice, born over 500 years ago, is still alive today. This programme, conceived with care by Skip Sempé, provides time travel with an incredible diversity of sounds and colours. A rare testimony of elegance - that a simple melody composed at the heart of the Renaissance can create an intense emotional experience even in the world of today. The solo instrumentalists, stars of the international early music scene, are accompanied by two newly-created instrumental consorts, the Capriccio Stravagante Viols and the Capriccio Stravagante Recorders. The Italian madrigals and Franco-Flemish chansons on which the 'diminution' repertoire was based included some of the most popular, beautiful and memorable music of the entire 16th century. Many of these works of major composers such as Palestrina, Rore, Sandrin,Arcadelt and Lasso survived in dozens of arrangements for instrumentalists in the 'diminution' form, which refers to the instrumental or vocal performance practice of ornamenting a pre-existing melody.Antico / Moderno features up to four contrasting versions of the original works, dating from 1517 to 2009. Embellished versions are by Diego Ortiz, Francesco Rognoni, Giovanni Battista Spadi, Jan van Lublin, Vincenzo Ruffo, Bartolomeo de Selma y Salaverde, Girolamo dalla Casa and Doron Sherwin.