More Hispano | Vicente Parrilla

Profile

We don’t just perform, we create. Not on paper, but on stage: right in front of the audience — improvisation and risk-taking, creativity, communication and virtuosity all make each one of our shows a unique spectacle.

Video

More Hispano at Utrecht Early Music Festival 2008

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Improvisation

Under the artistic direction of Vicente Parrilla, More Hispano offer unique projects based on a concept that is extremely unusual in the field of early music performance today: The entirely improvised performance of every piece in their programmes.

Since 2005, we have focused exclusively on developing and recovering the lost art of improvisation within the early music repertoire — an essential tool that allows us to achieve fresh, surprising live performances loaded with great communicative power. Incorporating the art of improvisation adds a new dimension to live performance through direct communication with the public, and has always been warmly received by audiences.

Discography

Our debut album was entirely dedicated to the 17th-century Spanish composer Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (Canzoni, Fantasie et Correnti), and it's a record that remains a reference for Selma’s music today.
In April 2009, we recorded a session from which our two most recent albums emerged: Yr a oydo (2010) (old Spanish for Going by ear) —a disc dedicated to improvisation in Renaissance and early Baroque music— and Glosas (2011) —a very personal project that brings together original and unpublished material in the form of new embellishments on Renaissance repertoire.

Glosas (2011)
Yr a oydo (2010)
Canzoni, Fantasie et Correnti (1999), B. de Selma y Salaverde

Visit the discography section.

Background

Founded in 1998 after the production of their debut album, More Hispano brought together a group of musicians of great renown today, many of whom are currently working as soloists on their own personal projects and careers, and who have been playing together in different projects for more than 20 years.

“More” ≠ “+”

A little etymology to clarify the origin of the ensemble’s name: More Hispano takes its name from a Latin expression to be found in several collections of motets and masses by some of the most important authors of Renaissance Spain, such as Tomás Luis de Victoria or Francisco Guerrero. This expression usually indicated the use of typically Spanish melodies such as Pange Lingua or Vexilla Regis.

Press

“At its best, the group’s style came as close as anything I’ve heard to an early-music jam session, with caution thrown to the wind.”
— The Irish Times, October 16, 2013

“Whereas for most period-instrument bands improvisation means judiciously adding ornaments, Mr. Parrilla and company go all out. Mr. Parrilla, on recorder, takes turns with the other instrumentalists elaborating on the composers’ melodies, often adding modal touches and varying the rhythms, much as a virtuosic jazz band would do with a group of standards.”
— The New York Times, February 17, 2011

“Alte Musik voll spontanem Leben — Verzierung und Improvisation sind Techniken der Alten Musik […]. Der spanische Blockflötist Vicente Parrilla […] hat sich diesen Künsten so intensiv gewidmet, dass er sie bis zur Verselbständigung, sogar bis zur Eigenkomposition einsetzen kann. Das ergab einen spannenden Abend der spontanen Interaktion und Virtuosität […]. Ein tiefes, technisch bewundernswertes Eintauchen in frühe Musik. „Jede Note, die ich spiele, ist von mir“, sagt Vicente Parrilla. Abgesehen von seiner hohen Kunst, eine wunderbare Grundeinstellung für jeden Musiker.”
— Tiroler Tageszeitung, July 18, 2013

“The crowning concert of the entire Festival Oudemuziek Utrecht. Their performance brought tears to my eyes from the sheer pleasure and joy at hearing such virtuoso and passionate performing, which had all of the truth and immediacy of a jazz concert.”
— Goldberg Magazine, October 2008

Performances

Thanks to all of them.