The Spirit of Gambo is a Chicago-area viol consort founded by Ken Perlow, Phillip Serna & Russell Wagner in 2006. The Spirit of Gambo is versatile chamber group focusing on the rich consort repertoire for violas da gamba – from early works of the 15th-century, to the rich English consort traditions of 16th & 17th-century, to varied continental styles and complex virtuosic works, to challenging contemporary music.

Next Concert

Information coming soon!

Our Founders

“I Doe not studie Eloquence, or profess Musicke, although I doe love Sence, and affect Harmony: my Profession being, as my Education hath beene, Armes, the onely effeminate part of me, hath beene Musicke; which in mee hath beene alwayes Generous, because never Mercenarie. To prayse Musicke, were to say, the Sunne is bright. To extoll my selfe, would name my labors vaine glorious. Onely this, my studies are far from servile imitations, I robbe no others inventions, I take no Italian Note to an English dittie, or filch fragments of Songs to stuffe out my volumes. There are mine own Phansies expressed by my proper Genius, which if thou dost dislike, let me see thine…”

– Captaine Tobias Hume, Composer of the the Spirit of Gambo, from the Musicall Humours (1605) –

Ken Perlow, Russell Wagner & Phillip Serna, viols