Hi! This is Janice Hill and Pat Unruh of from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Welcome to our web site!

was co-founded by Janice Hill and Pat Unruh in 1991. Programmes are created drawing on several disciplines: medieval performance practice, early notation, medieval literature, world music tradition. ANIMA's concerts evoke a sense of time and place, highlighting the richness and beauty of the past through music, poem, and story. Recent programmes, Le Trésor des Dames: Music by and for medieval women and La Rosa Enflorece: Sephardic Song - Rhythm & Romance, have been supported by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. It has been a pleasure for ANIMA to work with Peter Maund and Douglas Hensley, two distinguished musicians and good friends, in recording La Rosa Enflorece.

Janice Hill, voice, tar, doumbek, tambourine, has an active career as a professional singer. Janice coaches, conducts, records, and gives solo performances with several ensembles, performing throughout the West Coast. Recordings include: ANIMA's CDs, choral work on Skylark and Nettwerk labels, film soundtracks, commercials, demos, CBC. Janice is a graduate of UBC and SFU, and has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Cultural Services Branch of B.C. for her work in medieval voice performance. Singing jazz standards is another passion.

Pat Unruh, vielle, performs, researches and arranges programmes for West Coast medieval choirs (Ensemble Tonus Peregrinus, Ensemble Laude), and lectures in medieval music history. Pat has an M.A. in Medieval Music History and Bachelor's degrees in Music, and in English Language and Literature (from Canada and the UK). Also a viola da gamba player, Pat is music director for the period dance- and theatre-group Historical Performance Society of Greater Vancouver, performs Renaissance pops with her ensemble Light o' Love, and plays with numerous local early musicians. She has taught and performed in the Vancouver Early Music Festival and has been recorded on national radio (CBC).

Recordings by ANIMA
Productions by ANIMA
La Rosa Enflorece
Medieval Song for Christmas

If you would like to contact ANIMA for more information:

Write to us at:
Medieval Music Duo
c/o 4382 Carleton Avenue
Burnaby, B.C.
Canada
V5G 3B6