The Fooles is a young, enthusiastic 17th-century Italian string band that believes in the power of innovative and underutilized historical techniques to bring repertoire from the birth of instrumental music back to life for the modern day. Its co-directors, Alyssa Campbell and Tsutomu William Copeland, met while students at The Juilliard School, and are deeply interested in the scholarly research of all aspects of music, art, and society in early modern Europe. Members of The Fooles perform regularly across the United States and Europe on various historical repertoires and instruments from the Renaissance to the modern day. Their first major project in September 2021 was a large-scale showcase of Italian instrumental music for strings and continuo at the turn of the 17th century. It included 3-6 part dances, sinfonias, and transcriptions of vocal pieces by forward-thinking composers of the time, including predecessors and contemporaries of Monteverdi, as well as the female composers Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, and more, performed in meantone on period string instruments with a large and varied continuo section. Additionally, The Fooles has performed works by composers like Marini, Castello, Fontana, and others in recitals and other chamber music concerts given in New York City from 2020-2023.

Residency project:

“Remove the Veil,” is a recording project that brings life to renaissance and early baroque instrumental works. As an ensemble, we will record several madrigals, dance suites, and sonatas in a program showcasing the grandeur of 17th century Italy. This will involve a residency period with Les Arts Florissants where my ensemble, The Fooles, will work intensely on sound production, interpretive ideas, and refining our performance of the music we will record. This project will play an important role in our future as a professional early music ensemble.

The title of this project comes from a translation of the first line of text from the madrigal Lasciar il velo, found in a prominent Renaissance voice treatise by Maffei as an example of ornamentation in an ensemble setting.  In “Remove The Veil,” The Fooles will use Lasciar il velo, in addition to other madrigals and instrumental works, as an entryway into the sound world of early 17th century Italy.