Adiemus

Adiemus is a progressive and new age music project initiated in the mid-1990s by Welsh composer and conductor Karl Jenkins, who serves as its composer, conductor, and cornerstone.

The project brings together an evolving ensemble of singers and orchestral musicians. Singer Miriam Stockley performed the vocal parts on the first four albums and played a central role in creating Adiemus’s characteristic vocal sound, alongside Mary Carewe. Mike Ratledge, a former associate of Karl Jenkins in Soft Machine, also contributed to the first album.

The sound of Adiemus is based on a string orchestra enriched with various ethnic percussion, as well as other instruments such as bells, a recorder, or a quena. The distinctive choral effects are achieved through complex overdubbing, multiplying the vocal tracks of the female singers. From the album *Cantata Mundi*, brass and woodwind instruments are added, followed by other instruments like acoustic guitar on later albums.

Orchestration featured the London Philharmonic Orchestra for several albums, before Karl Jenkins formed his own Adiemus Orchestra for the album *The Eternal Knot*. The project also incorporated the Finnish choir Adiemus Singers from the album *Dances of Time* onwards.