Carlo Donato Cossoni (1623–1700) was born into a family of musicians in the small town of Gravedona by Lake Como on 10 November 1623. By 1650 he was organist at San Fedele in Como, where he had previously been ordained priest. He published his op.1 of two-part and three-part motets in Venice in 1665, and 13 further works followed up to 1679, all of sacred music. He bequeathed 54 sacred works to the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln (Appellato della Madonna de Valdo, “Our Lady of the Hermits”), and after his death in Gravedona they were added to the abbey library. Other Cossoni manuscripts have been preserved in Milan, Como and Bologna.

The NOVANTIQUA Bern vocal ensemble was founded in 1987 by Bernhard Pfammatter to prepare sophisticated choral literature for concert performance by a small ensemble. The name NOVANTIQUA expresses the ensemble’s commitment to the interpretation of early works alongside the performance of music from the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Kesselberg Ensemble was founded in 2004 by Latvian musicians, all graduates of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The ensemble chose the name “Kesselberg”, Latvian Katlakalns, to celebrate the district of Riga where Johann Gottfried Müthel (born 1728 in Mölln, died 1788 in Riga) spent his later years. J.S. Bach’s last pupil, Müthel was Latvia’s greatest composer of the 18th century.