Anonymous 4

Four women got together for a music reading session one afternoon in New York City in the spring of 1986; we  wanted to hear what medieval chant and polyphony would sound like when sung by female voices . . . 

And that was the start of Anonymous 4. From the beginning, we committed ourselves to thematic programming and a collaborative process. Our original mission was to explore chant and polyphony of the Middle Ages. Eventually, we expanded our repertoire to include contemporary music and American roots music as well.

Ultimately, Anonymous 4 made 1,500 appearances in forty-nine of the fifty United States and in thirty-five other countries. The quartet made composer commissions from Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang, Sir John Tavener, Steve Reich, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, developed crossover collaborations with newgrass stars Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, and with old-time music master Bruce Molsky, sang the voice of Joan for Richard Einhorn’s multi-media work, Voices of Light, and appeared on Chris Tin’s Grammy Award winning recording, Calling All Dawns. The A4 girls made twenty-one Billboard Classical Chart-topping, award-winning recordings of medieval, contemporary, and American music on the harmonia mundi usa label, and made guest appearances on the Sony Classical, Cantaloupe, and Tinworks labels.

Presentations at Calvin University

A Program of Chant, Song & Poetry
Part of the: January Series
Wednesday, January 18, 1995 12:30:00 PM
Covenant Fine Arts Center Auditorium