Founded in 2026 by Aiden Kocian, Zoë Kales, Ken Dulay, Tejas Gururaja, and Stephen Miller: Archaic Invention is Chicago’s own experimental Renaissance group.

One does not often hear the words “experimental” and “Renaissance” paired together, so what gives?

For as long as music has been written, composers have been looking back on previous musical traditions to invent a new sounds, genres, or performance traditions all together. The formation of Archaic Invention is a reaction to this tradition of looking back while moving forward.

We experiment with the extremes of the voice with regard to vocal color, ornamentation, and interpretation in order to reinvent our conception of what Renaissance music could sound like.