Ailen Monti (b. 1988) is a lute player specialised in Medieval and Renaissance performance practice from Buenos Aires (Argentina), currently based in Basel, Switzerland.

Ailen began her classical guitar studies as a teenager, with the teachers Ariel Osuna and Norman Baroni. Soon thereafter she developed a taste for ensemble music, playing in guitar quartets and octets. She was a founding member of the Ensamble de Guitarras de Quilmes, under the direction of the Spanish Ignacio López, with which she has participated in international festivals such as Guitarras del Mundo. 

Her growing taste for Early music was inspired by the Italian Trecento and the influence of the lutenist Peppe Frana. She abandoned the classical repertoire to dedicate herself exclusively to the medieval and early renaissance repertoire, lutes, and historical guitars.

After moving to Switzerland in 2019 in order to study plectrum lute with Prof. Dr. Marc Lewon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, she obtained a master’s in performance in medieval music and is currently continuing her studies in renaissance music.

Her curiosity in the transition from plectrum lute to finger technique was the trigger that led her to research the earliest sources for lute and plectrum types. This resulted in her master's thesis: a reconstruction and critical edition of selected instrumental pieces (containing all ricercars) in F-Pn, Rés. Vmd. Ms. 27 (the Thibault Manuscript), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marc Lewon.

In the meanwhile, valuable lessons with Crawford Young, Evangelina Mascardi, Eduardo Egüez, Monica Pustilnik, Ariel Abramovich and Peppe Frana have further driven her interest in Early music.

As a graduate of the Carlos Morel School of Fine Arts (Buenos Aires, Argentina), specializing in music education, she holds two Bachelor degrees as music teacher and guitar teacher. Later she began her postgraduate studies in Lute at the conservatory Manuel de Falla, all the while teaching music history and giving lessons with children's groups there.

As an international musician, Ailen has performed at early music festivals of Europe and the biggest medieval recreation: the Calendimaggio of Assisi. She also collaborates in new music projects, working with contemporary composers.

Ailen co-directs the Ensemble Parlemento of medieval music, which specialises in the music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, using historical sources to inform their performance on; lutes, flutes, vielles, harps, percussion, and vocals.

Since its founding in 2021, Basel-based Ensemble Parlamento has been invited to participate in music festivals such as Freunde Alter Musik Basel (Switzerland, 2024), Sastamala Gregoriana (Finland, 2023), Medimus (Kosovo, 2023), Basel ReRenaissance Festival (Switzerland, 2023), and the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik (Austria, 2022). Parlamento was also awarded the 2022 Schola Cantorum Basiliensis "Vier Jahreszeiten" fall prize, and they have performed other concerts internationally. The ensemble has also sought ways to bring the beauty of Early music to their local culture by visiting elementary schools and senior centers in their region.

In 2020 she and Carolin Margraf founded In Cytharis with which she researches the use, spread, and function of the Harp/Lute Duo of the 15th century. Prof. Dr. David Fallows, upon hearing a performance of In Cytharis, wrote “I can't get over how each generation of students gets to new sounds. Absolutely marvellous.”

medieval lute laute mittelalterlich Basel