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Anonymous 4
Anonymous 4
	Anonymous 4 in October, 2012
Background information
Genres	A cappella, Medieval
Years active	1992–2016
Labels	Harmonia Mundi, Sony Classical Records
Members	Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, Ruth Cunningham, Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Past members	Johanna Maria Rose
Website	www.anonymous4.com

Anonymous 4 was an American female a cappella quartet, founded in 1986^[1] and based in New York City. Their main performance genre was medieval music, although later they also premiered works by recent composers such as John Tavener and Steve Reich.^[2]

The name of the group is a pun on the name used to refer to an anonymous English music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin and Pérotin.

Anonymous 4 performed in cities throughout North America, and were regulars at major international festivals. The 2003–2004 season was their last as a full-time recording and touring ensemble, but they continued to tour and make recordings while pursuing individual projects.

The group collaborated with the Chilingirian Quartet on their 2003 album Darkness Into Light and The Mountain Goats on their 2012 album Transcendental Youth as well as with Christopher Tin in 2009 on his album Calling All Dawns, and in 2014 on The Drop That Contained the Sea.^[3]

The CD 1865, which features songs from the Civil War with Bruce Molsky on guitar, fiddle, banjo, and vocals was their final recording. The ensemble disbanded at the end of the 2015–2016 season.^[4]

Lineup

The original lineup included Johanna Maria Rose, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Ruth Cunningham. In 1998, Cunningham left and was replaced by Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek. In 2008, Cunningham returned to the group in place of Johanna Maria Rose until their 2016 disbanding. Genensky grew up in California in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains; Hellauer was born and raised in the Bronx, New York; Cunningham was brought up in Millbrook, New York; Rose grew up in the village of Grand View-on-Hudson, New York; and Horner-Kwiatek is from Monkstown, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland (she won her Green Card in the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, commonly known as the "Green Card Lottery").

Discography

Name	Date	Label	Format
An English Ladymass: Medieval Chant and Polyphony	1993	Harmonia Mundi	CD
On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols and Motets for Christmas	1993	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Love's Illusion: Music From The Montpellier Codex 13th Century	1994	Harmonia Mundi	CD
The Lily and the Lamb: Chant & Polyphony from Medieval England	1994	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Voices of Light	1995	Sony Classical Records	CD
Ancient Voices	1995	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Miracles of Sant'Iago	1996	Harmonia Mundi	CD
A Star in the East – Medieval Hungarian Christmas Music	1996	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Portrait of Anonymous 4	1997	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Hildegard von Bingen – 11,000 Virgins: Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula	1997	Harmonia Mundi	CD
A Lammas Ladymass: 13th and 14th Century English Chant and Polyphony	1998	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Legends of St. Nicholas	1999	Harmonia Mundi	CD
1000: A Mass for the End of Time	1999	Harmonia Mundi	CD
The Second Circle: Love Songs of Francesco Landini	2001	Harmonia Mundi	CD
La bele Marie: Songs to the Virgin from 13th-Century France	2002	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Darkness into Light – John Tavener	2003	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Wolcum Yule	2003	Harmonia Mundi	CD
American Angels	2004	Harmonia Mundi	CD
The Origin of Fire: Hildegard von Bingen	2005	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Carols and Chants for Christmas	2005	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Gloryland	2006	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Miracles of Compostela	2008	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Four Centuries of Chant	2009	Harmonia Mundi	CD
The Cherry Tree	2010	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Secret Voices: Chant & Polyphony from the Las Huelgas Codex, c. 1300	2011	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Marie et Marion	2014	Harmonia Mundi	CD
love fail	2014	Cantaloupe	CD (A work composed for the group by David Lang using texts by such writers as Lydia Davis)
1865	2015	Harmonia Mundi	CD
Three Decades Of Anonymous 4: 1986–2016	2016	Harmonia Mundi	CD (A retrospective collection of highlights from the 30-year collaboration with Harmonia Mundi, with repertoire ranging from 12th-century ecstatic chant to American roots music.)