Giving early music its due in Berlin

Medieval and Renaissance music are rarely heard in Berlin—a city otherwise bursting with musical richness. Singer Sarah Fuhs and flutist Amanda Markrwick, with their ensemble Titan’s Rising, are trying, along with a few others, to change this situation.

"Titan’s Rising is not only an ensemble but also a concert series that we organize ourselves!" © Titan's Rising

Founded in Berlin in 2014, Titan’s Rising is an ensemble devoted to medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque music. Its distinctive feature: a concert season of the same name, held in a Berlin church. Led by the artistic duo of singer Sarah Fuhs and flutist Amanda Markwick, both Americans, this original association brings together musicians and audiences around a repertoire that is rarely heard on Berlin stages. While the German capital is known for its musical vitality, the early music scene there remains paradoxically fragile. We meet Sarah Fuhs, a passionate musician who has made artistic solidarity the driving force behind an unusual project.

Your ensemble is called Titan’s Rising, and you also have a concert series by that name. How does it work?

Sarah Fuhs: Titan’s Rising is not only an ensemble but also a concert series that we organize ourselves. All our programs are premiered there before being performed elsewhere. Each season includes around ten concerts, about a third of which are given by our ensemble, the others by guest groups. We focus on medieval and Renaissance music, which is less common in Berlin, while occasionally opening up to the late Baroque.

How did this project come about?

S.F.: I arrived in Berlin from the United States in 2008, wanting to sing and create projects. But at first, I found no real community of musicians specialized in early music. So, in 2014, I launched my own concert series. Little by little, the audience followed, and I met musicians trained in Basel or The Hague who were passionate about Renaissance music but rather isolated here. Many live in Berlin for its quality of life but rarely perform in their own city! Titan’s Rising became a meeting place, a point of connection for this scattered scene.