Weser Renaissance Bremen
is one of the internationally renowned ensembles for the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, the focus of the work is the repertoire between Josquin Desprez and Dieterich Buxtehude.

With new discoveries of musical treasures from the Renaissance and early Baroque, the ensemble is a welcome guest at festivals for early music and has presented an impressive number of CD recordings that have been enthusiastically received by the experts.

The composition of the ensemble is very variable and is solely geared towards the optimal presentation of the respective repertoire. In addition to internationally sought-after vocal soloists, highly specialized instrumentalists are engaged for the original instruments of the respective epoch. The aim is the lively and at the same time musically flawless reproduction of works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. With the Hanseatic city of Bremen as a "home base", work on and with historical organ instruments from Northern Europe has recently been a further focus.

In the 25th year of its existence, WESER-RENAISSANCE can look back on a proud number of selected concert and CD programmes, international invitations and prominent appearances.

The Orlando e.V. association organizes an annual concert series in Bremen with the Ensemble Weser-Renaissance on changing themes.

Manfred Cordes
Specialist in the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, sees himself as a mediator between musicology and musical practice. He first studied school and church music in Hanover and Berlin, later classical philology (Latin) and singing pedagogy, followed by a guest lecturer in music theory in Groningen (NL). In Bremen since 1985, Cordes took over the vocal ensemble of the Forum Alte Musik and began extensive concert activities with it. The WESER-RENAISSANCE BREMEN ensemble was founded in 1993 by further specializing in the repertoire of the 16th and 17th centuries and by using historical instruments.

In 1986 Manfred Cordes was involved in founding the Academy for Early Music in Bremen. He received his doctorate in 1991 with a thesis on the connection between key and affect in music of the Renaissance and in 1994 he was appointed professor of music theory at the Bremen University of the Arts. From 1996 to 2005 he headed the music department as dean and from 2007 to 2012 he was rector of the university. He is a member of the management of the Arp Schnitger Institute for Organ and Organ Building as well as the founder and artistic director of the European Hanse Ensemble, which is particularly dedicated to promoting young musicians.