Sacred Monsters is a collaboration between soprano Kyle Leigh Carney and lutenist Cameron Welke, dedicated to connecting the stories of the Renaissance and Baroque song repertoire with the lived experiences of their audiences today. The ensemble's name is derived from the 18th century term "monstre sacré," used by the French to describe those larger-than-life performers whose eccentricities fueled their performing lives and kept their audiences engaged in their work. Sacred Monsters takes inspiration from the duality inherent to their name and aims to bring out both the sacred and the monstrous within Renaissance and Baroque, inviting their audiences to enter with them into the sublime and grotesque world of 17th- and 18th-century music.