Founded in 1999 by former Broken Hope members Brian Griffin (guitar), Sean Baxter (guitar/violin), and Larry DeMumbrum (drums), Em Sinfonia started out as doom-death-goth musical collective featuring numerous alumni of the Chicago heavy metal scene, including vocalist Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom, Subterranean Masquerade) and bassist Mary Bielich (Penance, Novembers Doom). And that's not all: 1999's debut mini-LP, In Mourning's Symphony, also featured female vocalist April Domet (who had previously worked as a blues singer), guitarist Rob Stephenson, and keyboardist Rick Alexander, but contained a mere four songs, even though most were in the eight-minute range. Released in 2001, the sophomore Intimate Portrait was more what you'd call a proper album, but by this stage only Griffin, Baxter, Alexander, and DeMumbrum remained from the original expanded lineup, having drafted another female vocalist called Bunny (?) to front the band. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia