The Ferrara Ensemble presents late medieval/early Renaissance music with a distinctive vocal sound described in Gramophone (Jan. 1996) as "luscious... almost unbelievably sensuous", and with a unique string-ensemble sound (lute, harp, hammered dulcimer, viola d'arco) which medieval music audiences have come to identify with this group. More than one reviewer has noted the "astonishing naturalness" which hallmarks the ensemble's way of interpreting 14th and 15th-century repertories that have previously received relatively little attention from performers. Thanks to access to unique library, microfilm and general medieval studies resources available in Basel through the Schola Cantorum and the University, the group brings depth to an interpretation which sees a song primarily as a story, a text. 　　  　　The seeds of the Ferrara Ensemble were sown at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 1984, where a string ensemble led by Crawford Young and a wind band led by Randall Cook recorded a program of Quattrocento instrumental music for the Schola Documenta/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label. The group's present vocal/instrumental orientation formation began around 1990, when the ensemble started to do regular recordings for the WDR Köln (West German Radio Cologne). Major festival appearances throughout Europe have followed, including an extensive tour of Southeast Asia in 1995 co-sponsored by the Goethe Institut of Germany and Swiss Pro Helvetia. Since 1999 the Ferrara Ensemble has continued touring in North America, England and Australia, where it has been a guest of the Universities of Birmingham and Melbourne respectively. 　　  　　The Ferrara Ensemble enjoys in-residence status at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where three of its members (Crawford Young, lute, gittern, Kathleen Dineen, voice/harp, Randall Cook, viola d'arco) are on the faculty. They work together with singers Eric Mentzel, Lena Susanne Norin, Miriam Andersén, Stephen Grant, Raitis Grigalis, Agnethe Christensen and Karl-Heinz Schickhaus, hammered dulcimer, according to specific program. Programs with French and Italian repertories feature cooperative work with the Schola's text specialist/musicologist Nicoletta Gossen.