Ensemble Biography
Intesa was formed in 2023 at the Royal Academy of Music by Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti, with the goal of celebrating the viol’s combination with the voice. Intesa is an Italian word meaning “understanding”, or a meeting of minds. This ethos of collaboration and agreement is embodied in the duo’s programming, where folk and early music repertoire are placed side-by-side, bringing together European and Armenian traditions through narrative and self-accompaniment.
Intesa performs regularly in the UK and internationally. They have performed several sold-out concerts at Handel Hendrix House and Fidelio Cafe, as well as a residency with the National Centre for Early Music as part of their York Early Music Christmas Festival and Baroque Around the Books series. Overseas engagements have included two performances at the Utrecht Fabulous Fringe Early Music Festival, a residency at Ferrandou Musique, a concert at Vilalte Festival, and a New York debut concert at the Harold Pratt House and the Gotham Early Music Scene Midtown Concerts series. In January 2025, they performed at the Leeds International Concert Season and in Vienna as part of the Resonanzen early music festival. Other recent concerts include the Stoke Newington Early Music Festival and the Islington Arts Festival in London. Upcoming engagements feature performing at the Residenzwoche Munchen, a return to the Vienna Resonanzen Festival, and a tour of Scotland in January 2026, organised by the Tunnell Trust.
They are currently recording their debut album, which will be available on the Pelle d’Oca label in early 2026.
Since their founding, Intesa were awarded the 2023-24 Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music, won 2nd prize at the #GeneraciónSMADE competition in Estella (Spain), and are one of five winners of the Tunnell Trust Awards in 2024.
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Lucine Musaelian is an Armenian-American viola da gamba player, singer, and composer from New Jersey. She graduated from Yale University in 2020 with a B.A. in Music, where she was a member of the Yale Schola Cantorum, Elm City Consort, the Opera Theatre Company of Yale, the Yale Collegium Musicum, the Smithsonian Consort of Viols. In July 2022, Lucine completed her M.A. in Historical Performance at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where she studied viola da gamba with Paolo Pandolfo and voice with Rosa Dominguez. She continued her viol studies with Jonathan Manson at the Royal Academy of Music, where she completed a Professional Diploma in Viola da Gamba Performance as a recipient of the Enlightenment Award. Lucine is now a Royal Academy Chamber Fellow with the duo Intesa.
Lucine has performed under the direction of celebrated conductors like René Jacobs, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Jane Glover, and John Butt. She recently performed with Jonathan Manson and Elizabeth Kenny as a part of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Night Shift series, and also with Phantasm and Dunedin Consort. Lucine is a recent member of the Idrisi Ensemble, where she plays the vielle and sings medieval repertoire. As a part of her studies, she has been writing music for the viol and voice as a part of her continued exploration of self-accompanied singing with the viol. Her music takes inspiration from both Armenian folk and early music.
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Nathan completed his Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in 2023 as a Christopher Hogwood Scholar, specialising in historical performance on the viola da gamba and baroque cello with Jonathan Manson. During his time at the Academy, Nathan co-founded Intesa, a viola da gamba and voice duo which celebrates the combination of viol and voice across a wide range of repertoire. In 2023-24, he was a Chamber Music Fellow at the Academy as part of Intesa.
Since graduating, Nathan has worked with leading figures in the early music scene, including Philippe Herreweghe, Rachel Podger, Bjarte Eike, Michael Chance, Matthew Truscott and Pavlo Beznosiuk, as well as being accepted on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Experience scheme. Nathan recently joined the Salomon String Quartet, led by Simon Standage, for a series of concerts celebrating Haydn’s music at the Esterházy Castle in Hungary.
Nathan is also a core member of Bellot Ensemble, an early music group specialising in 16th and 17th-century repertoire. Bellot was selected as BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Baroque Ensemble 2025-27, and their debut album ‘Cupid’s Ground Bass’ will be released in November 2025.
Nathan has played with various leading period performance ensembles, including The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Hanover Band, and the Early Opera Company. He is the founder of the Vilalte Festival, a yearly chamber music festival taking place in southern France. The festival has been running for eight years and has put on over 35 concerts.