The Ensemble Theatrum Instrumentorum was founded in Milan in 1986 and offers a repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, with a focus on both Western European music (especially Italian and Spanish) and the music of the Byzantine and Ottoman worlds. Today it is considered one of the leading Italian ensembles in the European Early Music scene.
Over the years, musicians from Argentina, Armenia, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Norway, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Syria and the United States have participated.
Since 1997, the ensemble has been directed by Aleksandar Sasha Karlic and has taken part in numerous early music festivals in Italy and abroad, as well as in renowned international festivals (including Amiata, Anversa, Arona, Ascona, Basel, Bologna, Bolzano and Trento, C ividale del Friuli, Como, Krakow, Cremona, Freiberg, Locarno, Milan, Modena, Paris, Pesaro and Urbino, Ravenna, Regensburg, Stresa and Lago Maggiore, Warsaw, Venice, Vicenza, Viterbo, Zara).
For several years, it has also worked with various other vocal and instrumental groups that specialise in Early Music, including the Accademia Bizantina, Chiaroscuro, the Coro dei Madrigalisti della RTSI and the ensembles Elyma and Sequentia.
Theatrum Instrumentorum, whose name is derived from the richly illustrated appendix to the second volume of Michael Praetorius' "Syntagma musicum", one of the most important reference works on the theory, performance practice and organology of early European music, has been a regular guest at the San Rocco Festival of Early Music in the Tintoretto rooms of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice for several years.