Diane Severson was born in the USA and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin where she went on to study Vocal Performance at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She continued her studies in Germany at the Hochschule der Künste, Bremen (Academy of Early Music), where she specialized in the performance practice of baroque and renaissance music. She studied intensively with Barbara Thornton of the world reknowned ensemble for mediaeval music, Sequentia, and toured with the ensemble extensively. She has performed on 3 continents. Diane is a dynamic singer who sings a wide range of music. Having specialized in the performance practice of Early Music, she is especially versatile singing music of the baroque, renaissance and mediaeval eras, but she has also received many positive critiques of her performances of Mozart and Haydn as well as of contemporary music. In fact, her first solo recording was a fusion of the old and the new: Together with baroque lute player and composer, Meinhard Gerlach, she created the unique CD "Silence". "Silence" is a collection of Gerlach's compositions; texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, Emily Dickenson and other composed for Diane Severson and baroque lute accompaniment. Also to be heard on "Silence" are compositions for solo lute and lute trio. One of the few collections of modern music for the popular voice and lute combination, this recording is an exciting addition to the repertoire. She is a founding member of Elysium, a vocal ensemble of 4 women, whose first commercial recording with Decca Records in 2000 ("Auvergne Chants") shot up to number 4 on the UK Classical charts upon release. Since that initial recording, Elysium has further explored the connections between Early Music and Folk Music, using performance practice and improvisation techniques to find creative forms of presentation. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.