The Newberry Consort, “Chicago’s gift to the early music world” (the Boston Globe) was the brainchild of two old friends, Howard Mayer Brown and Mary Springfels. Brown, who died in 1993, was a brilliant musicologist and a great supporter of early music performance and performers. Mary Springfels was a well-known performer on early stringed instruments and an avid scholar of music history. Brown had offered Springfels the directorship of the early music ensemble at the University of Chicago, and then discovered that the Newberry Library was considering adding a concert series to their public programs.

By 1986, the ensemble had coalesced into a core of musicians supplemented as needed by guest artists. The first incarnation of the Newberry Consort consisted of Drew Minter, David Hart, David Douglass and Springfels. Flutist David Hart died tragically in 1988 at the age of 37. Shortly after Hart’s death, mezzo-soprano Judith Malafronte and lutenist Kevin Mason became members of the Newberry Consort. Personnel changed over the years: By 2008, the membership consisted of Springfels, Minter, Douglass and Ellen Hargis. Under Springfels’ direction, the Consort performed unusual repertoires and explored early music in unusual ways. They experimented with medieval story-telling, setting Arthurian Legends and bawdy Italian poetry to recitation formulas; and worked with the Newberry’s wonderful collection of Renaissance occult literature to recreate “magical “music. Another project featured music of the court of Queen Christina in Rome, followed by a screening of the old Garbo “Queen Christina” classic film. With Drew Minter, Springfels presented the Chicago debuts of Scarlatti’s dramatic oratorios “La Giuditta” and “Agar et Ismaele”. With the pipa and erhu virtuosi Yang Wei and Betty Xiang and percussionist Najib Bahri, the Consort put on a Marco Polo Show—a Silk Road project with early music.

The Consort has toured actively from 1985 to the present. The ensemble has appeared at the prestigious Boston, Utrecht and Regensberg Early Music festivals, and performed in Italy and England, as well as in early music festivals and series throughout the US, Mexico and Canada.