Step into a world where the echoes of history blend seamlessly with the vibrancy of New York City through the Gotham Early Music Scene’s captivating series of events. From the intricate harmonies of Renaissance choral music to the exuberant dances of the Baroque era, this season promises a rich tapestry of performances. Celebrated artists like Julia Bengtsson and esteemed ensembles such as Parthenia bring to life the timeless masterpieces of composers like William Byrd and Handel, offering audiences an immersive experience that celebrates the enduring beauty of early music.

A Harmonious Journey Through Time: Exploring Gotham Early Music Scene's Enchanting Events

Delve into the rich tapestry of early music with Gotham Early Music Scene's captivating lineup of events, showcasing a medley of historical genres performed by world-renowned artists. From Italian concertos to 17th-century English chamber music, each event promises a unique exploration of musical heritage, featuring performances by accomplished musicians like Enrico Gatti. Whether you're a seasoned enthusiast or new to early music, these events offer a remarkable opportunity to experience the depth and diversity of historical compositions in some of New York City's most iconic venues.

Exploring the Vibrant World of Early Music: A Journey Through Gotham Early Music Scene Events

Join us on a captivating musical journey with the Midtown Concerts series organized by Gotham Early Music Scene. Held at the iconic St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church and The Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York City, these events showcase a diverse array of performances by talented artists. From the Eurasia Consort's transcultural compositions to Magdalena's evocative Celtic songs, each concert offers a unique exploration of early music. This series promises to enthrall both seasoned concert-goers and curious newcomers with its rich tapestry of historical and cultural sounds.

A Harmonious Journey Through Midtown Concerts: Celebrating Early Music with Gotham Early Music Scene

Step into the heart of New York City's musical tapestry with the Gotham Early Music Scene's captivating series of concerts. From March 27 to May 22, 2025, the historic St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church will host a variety of performances under the Midtown Concerts series, featuring both seasoned and emerging artists. Whether you're a fan of operatic excerpts by Opera Essentia or the enchanting sounds of the viola da gamba, these concerts offer something for every music enthusiast. Join us as we explore the harmonic wonders of this vibrant cultural showcase.

A Journey Through Time: Gotham Early Music Scene's Diverse Concert Series

This spring, Gotham Early Music Scene transforms New York City into a vibrant landscape of melody and movement. From the soulful strains of The Chivalrous Crickets to the enchanting rhythms of the BALAM Dance Theatre, a diverse array of artists come together for a series of unforgettable performances. Hosted at iconic venues like St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church, these events promise to captivate audiences with a rich tapestry of early music, opera, and dance.

Gotham's Spring Awakening: A Celebration of Music and Dance

EPSG:4326

Midtown Concerts • Pascal Valois

St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church - The Actors' Chapel

Midtown Concerts • Nuova Pratica

Midtown Concerts • Caroline Nicolas and Jeffrey Grossman

Midtown Concerts • Eurasia Consort

Midtown Concerts • Dan McCarthy

The Musical Offering is often thought of as one of Bach’s thorniest works, but House of Time’s colorful rendition, along with Gonzalo X. Ruiz’s witty and engaging narration turns it into an entertaining and accessible tour through the wonders of this contrapuntal masterpiece. Follow along as Bach’s musical juggling reaches heavenly heights, and gain new insight into the mysteries of its creation.

House of Time

Hudson View Gardens

Abendmusik

The Church of St. Luke in the Fields

Midtown Concerts • House of Time

Midtown Concerts • Assai Ad Libitum

Midtown Concerts • ALBA Consort

Midtown Concerts • Hesperus

War & Peace ~ Music in the Time of the Thirty Years War

Midtown Concerts • Abendmusik

Albert Einstein said, “I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music.” The violinist Enrico Gatti is no different, with a long life of performing music, writing about music, discovering and editing unknown repertoire, and teaching the next generation. For this concert, we dream together of the 17th century in England, with chamber music of 17th-century English composers Jenkins, Simpson, Locke, Lawes, and Matteis.

ARTEK • Musical Daydreams

Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church

Four Bach Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord

Midtown Concerts • Schwarz / Shin Duo

World famous Baroque violinist Enrico Gatti returns to lead a workshop on Italian concertos with ARTEK and the young artist string Fellows of Italian Insanity. This marks the third season that Mr. Gatti has joined ARTEK to teach our next generation of Baroque violinists. The repertoire will be concertos for four violins by Vivaldi, Torelli, and Valentini, and two rarely heard concertos for four violins by the Neapolitan composers Mossi and Leo. Soloists will be members of ARTEK and the young artist Fellows.

ARTEK • Italian Insanity

Midtown Concerts • Emmanuel Coppey

Midtown Concerts • Theotokos

Our yearly Bach by Candlelight program offers a contemplative approach to the music of the great master, J.S. Bach, featuring House of Time’s signature versions of his eternal classics under soothing candlelight. Take a respite from the city’s hectic pace and let the meditative atmosphere set the stage for new thrills.

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church New York

Midtown Concerts • Baltimore Consort

Midtown Concerts • Duo Cok & Verschuren

Join us on New Year’s Day for some of Bach’s greatest hits! The ARTEK Singers, Saint Ignatius Choir, and ARTEK Orchestra will be led by director Gwendolyn Toth in a festive concert of our favorites. The program includes the sublime Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043, featuring ARTEK’s violin leader Cynthia Freivogel and guest soloists Augusta McKay Lodge; the beloved Brandenburg no. 3 Concerto for strings; and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, part 2 with its heavenly Sinfonia for strings and winds, featuring ARTEK’s outstanding vocal soloists.

ARTEK • Holiday Concert

The Sammartini Brothers

Ring in the holidays with Concordian Dawn! Join us for a program of beautiful and rousing seasonal Medieval music. The ensemble will perform a selection of favorites from the middle ages alongside rarely or never before heard musical gems, as well as premiere performances of compositions with Medieval texts by modern Medievalism composer, David Yardley. We hope this concert brings you a moment of peace, reflection, and enjoyment as we wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Concordian Dawn

The polychoral music of Venice is a remarkable expression of the city’s rich artistic and cultural heritage. Characterized by the use of multiple choirs, often positioned in different locations within churches like St. Mark’s Basilica, this vibrant style will be recreated with a spatially immersive musical experience featuring both choir and instruments. Revel in the brilliance of these timeless works, from the grand polychoral sounds of Giovanni Gabrieli to the sublime elegance of Heinrich Schütz, as we celebrate the holiday in a way that only Venice — and its magnificent music — can inspire.

Central City Chorus

This group of unaccompanied mixed voices, formed in 2005, will pick up where they left off in 2011, with a concert of two gorgeous, rarely-heard, complete masses — one by Josquin des Prez (Une Mousse de Biscaye), and the other by Heinrich Isaac (Een vrolic wesen). This music demonstrates that the rules of classical harmony and counterpoint of the Baroque, Classic, and early Romantic periods were already well established and beautifully executed by Renaissance composers before 1500.

Music Divine

Join us for a concert with Gold and Glitter, an early music ensemble which shines a new light on 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces of the Baroque era.

Gold and Glitter

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

The anticipated return of the “Gold Standard” (The New York Times) performance of Handel’s Messiah welcomes acclaimed guest conductor Jane Glover to performances on December 11–13. Trinity’s Messiah performance is a cherished holiday tradition that has captivated audiences for centuries. (Trinity first presented Messiah in 1770.) Trinity’s unique Messiah is performed in a sacred space, on period instruments, with soloists from Trinity Choir chosen to best complement each aria and recitative.

Messiah

Trinity Church

Following a long-treasured tradition of music for Christmas, the viols of Parthenia present a sparkling array of songs, dances and carols from Elizabethan England. Along with music by Thomas Morley, Anthony Holborne, Thomas Ravenscroft, Dr. John Bull and Tobias Hume, this concert features a wide variety of music by the celebrated master composer of England’s Golden Age, William Byrd.

Parthenia

The Art of the Touch program features a rare William Hyman French double harpsichord and Hass/Robert Van Brandt clavichord. Performers are Avi Stein, Masayuki Maki, Chaeyung Park, & Sandra Miller, flauto traverso. Program features: Couperin Pièces de clavecin; C.P.E. Bach Sonata for obbligato flute; J.S. Bach Chromatic Fantasy; Messiaen, Ligeti, and female composer Ana Sokolovic.

American Classical Orchestra

Salmagundi Club

Midtown Concerts • Julia Bengtsson from The New York Baroque Dance Company

Long associated with the Sistine Chapel, Palestrina’s actual time as a singer in the Pope’s choir was brief. He spent many more years associated with the choir of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Cappella Giulia. This concert will feature music composed in the later years of his life between 1571 and his death in 1594. The concert will highlight Palestrina’s often overlooked compositions for two choirs and features the eight-voice Missa Confitebor tibi Domine, along with motets and offertories.

Polyhymnia

During his time in Italy, Handel went from a promising young musician to Europe’s greatest composer, while leaving an indelible mark on Italian music. Superstar soprano Clara Rottsolk returns to sing with House of Time for an evening of cantatas and trios by the incomparable “Young Saxon” and his Italian contemporaries Caldara and Porpora.

Ars Poetica makes its New York City debut by embarking on a musical voyage to the heart of Renaissance Italy and Spain. In literature and folklore, music often accompanies tales of enchantment and sorcery. From the Pied Piper’s hypnotic flute melodies to Orpheus charming beasts with his lyre, stories abound with examples of music’s ability to enchant and control the supernatural. Inspired by this idea, Ars Poetica brings their interpretive vision to the stage in a program of rarely performed virtuoso music.

Ars Poetica • Conjuring Magic

A candlelight concert featuring French masterworks sung by The Actors’ Chapel Choir with string orchestra. Dr. Stephen Fraser, Director of Music, and Michael Hey, Organist. Selections of poetry to be recited between musical selections. Wine Reception to follow in the West Chapel.

The Actors’ Chapel Choir

An instrumental exploration of Medieval chant melodies as well as early polyphony with texts predominantly related to “Stella” — the image of the Star — be it in reference to the Virgin Mary, or the beloved in the context of courtly love. These selections are complemented with instrumental dances from the 13th to 15th Centuries. The instruments for this program span the gamut from recorders (including a reconstruction of a double recorder inspired by 14th-century iconography) to pipe and tabor, Medieval bells, hurdy-gurdy, organetto, and percussion.

Midtown Concerts • The Lost Mode

Drew Ivarson ~ tenor and Daniel Keene ~ lute present a meditative selection of devotional songs from Thomas Campion’s Diuine and Morall Songs (1613) and John Dowland’s A Pilgrimes Solace (1612).

Poore Astronomers

St Agnes Church

TENET retells the story of Ariadne in a lively and dramatic pastiche of 17th-century Italian music. With an intimate cast of six, each singer embodies the main characters of Ariadne, Theseus, and the inhabitants of the island of Naxos. The tale is told through duets, arias, madrigals, and opera scenes by Francesca Caccini, Sigismondo D’India, Barbara Strozzi, and Claudio Monteverdi. Curated by Elisa Sutherland.

TENET Vocal Artists

Park Avenue Christian Church

In celebration of 400 years of the Dutch in New York City (2024), this program highlights music from the late Dutch Golden Age. Echoing the subtle palettes of de Lairesse and Vermeer, the warmth of the string ensemble is adeptly utilized by the Dutch Baroque composers, in particular Benedictus Buns and Carel Hacquart. Works by Wilhelm and Hellendaal complement the gentle glow of the more nuanced compositions with lively and dazzling technical showmanship.

Midtown Concerts • As The Crow Flies

Brahms loved the Lutheran church music of the late Renaissance and Baroque. Many of the Biblical texts he chose for his Deutsches Requiem had already been set by these composers. The heralded Belgian ensemble Vox Luminis has explored this repertoire for 20 years and presents a new companion piece by Lionel Meunier to Brahms’ classic work. The piece is a Baroque meditation on mortality and faith that pays homage to the master while presenting a very different German Requiem — one animated by the emotions of the Lutheran Baroque.

Music Before 1800 presents Vox Luminis

The Sebastians’ Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church debut features a spirited celebration of the “trio” sonata of two violins, violoncello, and harpsichord. This joyful program showcases the unique dynamism of the Baroque through the eloquent melodies of Handel, the complex counterpoint of Bach, and the harmonic richness of Corelli, alongside a newly-commissioned trio sonata by Karl Hinze.

the Sebastians

Madison Avenue Presbyterian

Composer William Byrd was a covert Catholic facing brutal persecution during the counter-reformation in the 16th century. Hear Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices as he intended — sung for worship in strictest secrecy. British early music phenoms The Gesualdo Six make their MB1800 debut in this landmark performance that continues to tour the world. They are joined by New York’s own Abendmusik. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience this immersive staged Mass inside the largest cathedral in the world.

The Gesualdo Six with Abendmusik

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine

In Bach’s last years, his attention turned to the art of counterpoint, raising his mastery to new and higher pinnacles of achievement. His vision was deteriorating and his handwriting worsened, until the final stroke that brought his life to a sudden end in the midst of composing the Art of Fugue. ARTEK pays homage to Bach’s art by performing his instrumental chamber music in the form of instrumental sonatas for violin, viola da gamba, obbligato harpsichord, and obbligato lute together with some of Bach’s profound counterpoint from The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. We know that Bach arranged and re-arranged much of his instrumental music, and in that spirit, we present sonatas in alternate instrumentation, as well as a sonata originally thought to be by Bach but now known to be by the lute composer Sylvius Weiss.

ARTEK • The Art of Bach

i bardi is a group of New York-based musicians dedicated to exploring music from the birth of the early modern era. The ensemble presents a concert of songs of love, jealousy, heartbreak, and victory from the Italian Renaissance. Dazzling madrigal diminutions by Bovicelli and Rognoni compliment arias by Mazzochi, Monteverdi, and Stefano Landi in this program designed to arouse the passions and soothe the soul.

i bardi

Holy Apostles Episcopal Church

Some of the most virtuosic and stunning music of the 17th century emerged from the practice of writing diminutions on Renaissance madrigals. The evocative madrigals, from masters like Palestrina, Cipriano de Rore, and Lassus, become greater than the sum of their parts when embellished by the likes of Rognoni and Bassano. Intermittently, we bring you songs and dances by Falconieri, Landi, and more, to cleanse the palate.

Midtown Concerts • Richard Pittsinger, Rafa Prendergast & Friends

RETURN/REVIVE pairs two major works of grief and hope: one ancient, and one in its world premiere. Tudor composer Robert White’s Lamentations a5 expresses Jeremiah’s sorrow at the Biblical destruction of Jerusalem. In response, acclaimed composer and ensemble member Jonathan Woody’s Lamentation explores modern experiences of LGBTQ+ loss and otherness, while celebrating the ability of communities to mold adversity into hope and purpose. Several works by David Lang, Billie Eilish, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and more create a musical healing ritual that completes the program.

Five Boroughs Music Festival presents The New Consort

Brooklyn Art Haus

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

The passions of the soul from the heart of Baroque music. The well-known doctrine of affects serves as a springboard for immediate communication of human emotional states. This program examines joy, loss, pain, sorrow and tranquility through the exploration of the high Baroque German and instrumental repertoire. Longtime colleagues reunite to present a program that will flatter the ear and move the soul.

Midtown Concerts • Rita Lilly, Cléa Galhano & Peter Sykes

The Clarion Choir presents the finale of its multi-year project to perform the complete choral works of Sergei Rachmaninoff in celebration of the composer’s 150th birthday. This endeavor brings to light a lesser-known but central part of Rachmaninoff’s body of work. Clarion is joined by Amor Artis Chamber Choir and NOVUS NY, the orchestra in residence at Trinity Church NYC, to mark the culmination of this project with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s rarely-heard cantata Spring, and Three Folk Songs for chorus and orchestra. The concert will also feature the composer’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor featuring soloist Ilya Maximov.

Clarion

St. Bartholomew's Church

In the late 16th century, the chronicles of historians and travelers in Italy provide images of a fabulous musical world inhabited by women — singers, players and composers. One of the most musically-renowned convents was San Vito in Ferrara. The Concert Mistress was Raphaella Aleotti — the first nun to have music published. The concert will include motets by Aleotti and Palestrina’s massive Missa Confitebor tibi.

Choir of St. Luke in the Fields & Baroque in the Fields

When Bach’s pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs applied for the position of court organist in Altenburg in 1756, he was auditioned by Georg Benda, Kapellmeister to Duke Friedrich III of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. We don’t know exactly how often Krebs and Benda worked together but collaboration seems likely. This program will contrast their two styles and show the way they may have influenced each other.

Midtown Concerts • Melanie Williams & Rebecca Pechefsky

Polyphonic sacred music from the late 15th century to the early 17th, a cappella, about two Sunday afternoons a month, usually at 2:30 pm outdoors.

The Renaissance Street Singers

Autobiographical, composed and revised over thirty years, Francesco Petrarca’s Trionfi “Triumphs” is a series of poems in which the poet witnesses a succession of powerful forces through six allegorical figures: Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity. Piffaro, the Renaissance Band, and TENET Vocal Artists come together to honor the 650th anniversary of the death of Francesco Petrarch, founder of humanism and the most influential poet of the Italian Renaissance.

TENET Vocal Artists with Piffaro

Columbia University

On Friday, October 18th, Collectio Musicorum will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a concert featuring music from the Carmina Burana manuscript. This 13th-century manuscript is a compilation of works in Latin and German that were popular among wandering scholars and monks and range from the very pious to the very ribald. Although the musical notation in the manuscript is not decipherable, around one quarter of the texts also appear in other sources, and it is from these works that the concert program is assembled. Some of the named authors to be heard are Philip the Chancellor, whose place in the history of music is paramount; Gottried of St. Victor, from the famous monastery which was the center of Parisian theology; and Walter of Chatillon, author of an epic poem on Alexander the Great and vindictive lover. The incredible stories behind the music performed will make this a night to remember. Also included are a piece from the manuscript’s passion play and drinking songs in several languages.

Collectio Musicorum

First Church of Christ, Scientist

Laurence Cummings, music director of the Academy of Ancient Music, returns to direct members of Juilliard415 from the harpsichord in a program that celebrates the glorious musical landscape of 18th-century Great Britain.

Juilliard415

The Juilliard School

This program leads listeners on a journey from Armenia to Western Europe, telling timeless and universal stories about love and loss. It features music by John Dowland, Giulio Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Tobias Hume, as well as traditional Armenian music arranged for two viols and self-accompanied voice.

Midtown Concerts • Intesa

Re:Soundings reimagines the choral concert experience, transforming St. Mary the Virgin into a space where ancient and contemporary voices resonate together. Hear chant and works of Tallis, Victoria and Josquin along with contemporary works of Tavener and Pärt incorporating chant. The candle-lit performance space plays a critical role incorporating unique spatial arrangements throughout the sanctuary to enhance the music’s impact and draw the audience into the unfolding narrative. It’s early music as you’ve never heard it before. Don’t miss this!

Re:Soundings

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Gut strings and woodwinds and harpsichord, oh my! This colorful program of virtuosic German Baroque concerti includes Telemann’s delightful concerto for flute and recorder and Pisendel’s finger-twisting violin concerto. The concert culminates in Bach’s spectacular Brandenburg Concerto No. 4.

The Sebastians

Songs of Love, from Court to Country features 17th-century Italian love songs by Perti, Stefani, and Cazzati, and English airs by Purcell, Blow, and Lawes. Some of these arias were meant for courtly entertainment, but all would have made their way into the theatres and the streets of Italy and England, performed as they are here, with the singer providing his own accompaniment on the theorbo.

Midtown Concerts • Bud Roach

Celebrate the end of season 10 with House of Time's favorite works by Bach, Handel, and Rameau on The Uptown Arts Stroll! Come early for a stroll around the Rose Garden and stay late to toast Season 10! The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) in collaboration with local artists, businesses, community leaders and institutions, has produced the Uptown Arts Stroll since 2008. Each year the Uptown Arts Stroll will feature open studios, art exhibitions, concerts, literary events, and performances during the month of June throughout Northern Manhattan from West 135th Street to West 220th Street.

Join us for a concert featuring one of the most unique pieces of French chamber music: La Gamme. Published in 1723, Marais successfully blends elements of the French and ever-encroaching Italian style into an epic character piece showcasing the virtuosity of the violin and viola da gamba.

Midtown Concerts presents The Academy Players

Comprised of four chapters — each dedicated to a distinct period or nationality of the Baroque era — Autumn Rising is not only an exploration of contrasting Baroque styles, but also a musical journey through the inward and outward transitions that occur during the autumnal season.

Midtown Concerts presents Relic

Combining historical folk music from Cape Breton, Scotland, and Ireland, 18th-century settings of traditional Scottish tunes, and well-known Baroque pieces, this lively, wide-ranging program explores the deep connections between aural folk traditions and the Baroque canon. Audiences are encouraged to tap their feet to the music, cheer after tune changes, or get up and dance.

Midtown Concerts presents The Berwick Fiddle Consort

The splendor of the French Baroque viola da gamba is celebrated in this virtuosic program. Included are works of the great rivals Antoine Forqueray (who played like the “devil”), Marin Marais (who played like an “angel”), and Le Sieur de Machy. Join gambist Caroline Nicolas, lutenist Kevin Payne, and harpsichordist Elliot Figg as they take you on a thrilling musical journey.

Midtown Concerts presents Caroline Nicolas & Friends

Excerpts of “From Hell to Antigone”, Opera Essentia's new 70-minute Distillation of Handel's Admeto, from 1727. This steamy love triangle saga unfolds in bittersweet beauty, one ravishing aria after another. Betrayal, longing, jealousy, and bewilderment just scratch the surface. A curse reversed, a rejection amended, but then she's back from the dead... how can a heart survive it all??

Midtown Concerts presents Opera Essentia

Incorporating music by some of the earliest composers of the Americas, the Arrow Quartet has chosen repertoire that represents a wide variety of American music. From the immigrant to the native, this program will encompass three centuries of American music written by composers of diverse backgrounds — John Antes, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Antonín Dvořák, and others will be featured.

Midtown Concerts presents Arrow Quartet

This new chamber opera by composer Frances White and librettist/photographer Wendy Steiner features soprano Sherezade Panthaki, Lawrence Lipnik on recorders and Beverly Au, Rosamund Morley, and Lisa Terry on viols. The scene is a gallery opening where a young photographer is speaking to her guests about the contradictions she has felt as a woman artist. She invites them to find her image in each of ten enigmatic photos, to "see her seeing” and with her feel a “rosiness” in life she almost lost.

UPON REFLECTION: An Opera in Ten Images

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music

St. Malachy’s – The Actors’ Chapel will host the 2024 Paul Creston Award Celebration honoring Geneviève Soly.

Mme. Soly will offer an organ recital that will include works by Buxtehude, Bach, Graupner, Organ Music of New-France — The Montréal Organ Book (17th century), and liturgical works by Dupré and Brahms. Additional choral music will be sung by the Actors’ Chapel Choir.

Geneviève Soly ~ Organ Recital

An exploration of the music of concerto delle donne providing a stunning musical portrayal of love themes from a 17th-century perspective with works by Francesca Caccini, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Claudio Monteverdi, and Barbara Strozzi. The program explores themes from sapphic poetry and heavenly admiration to haunting heartbreak and suffering in celebration of the divine feminine.

Midtown Concerts presents Le tre grazia a venere

Dieterich Buxtehude and his contemporaries


From Court to Country will explore threads of connection between courtly and pastoral music in France, Italy, and England from the late Medieval to the early Baroque. Ranging from shepherdly love songs to sorrowful lamentations, this program highlights a growing complexity of polyphony, colorful text expression, and harmonic depth in music from the 13th through the 17th centuries.

Midtown Concerts presents Partimenti

Baroque music is in vogue again! Nuova Pratica presents an afternoon of Baroque chamber music carefully composed by its members. This particular concert, our first on the Midtown Concerts series, will feature newly written trio sonatas in Baroque style by Nicola Canzano, sinfonias by Nathan Mondry, as well as music by Charlie Reed, Rebecca Nelson, and Ryan Cheng.

Midtown Concerts presents Nuova Practica

This uniquely conceived recital — set amongst the stunning stained glass of Brick Chapel — interweaves the keyboard music of Jean-Philippe Rameau with violin sonatas of Arcangelo Corelli, continuing the “conversation” between Italian and French Baroque styles.

The Chapel of Brick Presbyterian Church

The English Court Masque was the most extravagant theatrical event of its time. Evolving during the 16th century, it reached its climax in productions at the court of King James I and his successors in the 17th century. Wildly elaborate and focusing on praising the monarch, these theatrical extravaganzas featured both professional and amateur performers, and combined florid poetry and music with sumptuous scenery and costumes.

The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art

East of the River celebrates the release of its new album Ija Mia on Avie Records. The recording braids together the rich vocal and instrumental traditions of the Sephardic Diaspora with the soundscapes of its people from North Africa through the former Ottoman Empire. Nina Stern and Daphna Mor are joined by acclaimed Armenian-American oud player and composer Ara Dinkjian, Silk Road Ensemble founding member Shane Shanahan, Palestinian multi-instrumentalist Zafer Tawil, and innovative Israeli bass player Tal Mashiach

East of the River ~ Album Release

Congregation Bnai Jeshurun - Food Distribution Center

ITALIA MIA features a lavish selection of music from the Italian Renaissance for viol consort and lute. Join Parthenia, performing on a consort of viols from the 16th century, and lutenist Christopher Morrongiello in the library at Columbia’s Italian Academy for an intimate performance of works by 16th-century Italy’s most prominent composers.

Parthenia Viols

Join Quartet Salonnières for a captivating journey from Prague to Vienna, featuring two humorous quartets by Bohemian composers Antonio Rosetti and Leopold Koželuch and the mysterious Quartet No. 15 in D minor by W.A. Mozart. Acquaintances of Mozart, Rosetti wrote music for his funeral and Koželuch took his job when he died…but who has ever heard of these fellows? Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear what Mozart’s sneaky rivals were up to—and what set him apart!

Midtown Concerts presents Quartet Salonnières

Chamber music of J.S. Bach, G.P. Telemann, and G.F. Handel with Deborah Booth ~ recorder & traverso, Stephen Rapp ~ harpsichord, Lisa Terry ~ viola da gamba, and Jeremy Rhizor ~ violin. Ensemble BREVE was inaugurated in 1985 in New York City as a group offering unique programs of music from many eras on period instruments, in historically informed style. BREVE refers to the essence of great music making — its heartbeat. A breve symbol originally defined the tactus (pulse) or a single beat. BREVE has toured the United States, Mexico, and Europe.

Ensemble BREVE

Saint John’s in the Village

The First Congregational Church of Greenwich

Johann Pachelbel is celebrated for his piece Canon in D, which has become an icon of Baroque music and a phenomenon in the modern musical vernacular. Discover more of Johann Pachelbel through a harpsichord concert featuring some of his most brilliant keyboard works. The program concludes with an improvisation on the timeless bassline from Canon in D, inspired by Pachelbel.

Midtown Concerts presents Jonathan Salamon

For 100 years, Brick Church has performed John Stainer’s The Crucifixion on Good Friday. To mark the occasion, the Chancel Choir will present Barry Rose’s orchestration of the oratorio with soloists Jeffrey Taveras and Malcolm Merriweather.

John Stainer's "The Crucifixion" | Honoring 100 years

Luca Marenzio (1553–1599) is best known today for his madrigals, which rival Gesualdo for word-painting, chromaticism, and depth of emotion. With about 500 secular madrigals in his catalog, it is fascinating to discover Marenzio's sacred music, which employs his full expressive palette in a spiritual setting. Centered around his masterpiece Salve Regina, Theotokos presents a selection of rarely heard sacred music from this late Renaissance master.

Midtown Concerts presents Theotokos

Baroquelyn, in collaboration with Christ Church Cobble Hill and Old First Reformed Church, offers a reflective, candlelit hour of music and silence featuring Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres, a piece of lamentation written specifically for Holy Week. Soprano Elly Kakacek, countertenor Daniel Moody, and cellist Michael Katz join director Aleeza Meir at the harpsichord in sharing this exquisite music in a manner that feels not so much like a concert but more of a meditation.

Baroquelyn

Christ Church, Cobble Hill

Old First Reformed Church

Malian virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko has taken over the mantle of the greatest touring kora player. Derek Gripper is South Africa’s leading guitarist whose love of the kora set him transcribing and recording some of its greatest works, changing the face of classical guitar and giving the instrument its very first African repertoire. In this final concert in our French Touch series, Music Before 1800 partners with The World Music Institute to look at the unbroken musical tradition of the griots of Mali, through French occupation and colonization, and emerging as one of humanity’s most astonishing aural traditions.

Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper

Corpus Christi Catholic Church.

A Palm Sunday program featuring French Baroque master François Couperin's exquisite and expressive Leçons de Ténèbres, based on texts from the Lamentations of Jeremiah and intended to be sung during Holy Week. Also on the program are Chriara Margarita Cozzolani's duet O Dulcis Jesu, and two solo vocal works by Henry Purcell: the dramatic Blessed Virgin's Expostulation and poignant Evening Hymn.

Chloe Holgate & Katherine Wessinger ~ sopranos

Hailed by The New York Times for her "delicate, white-knuckled composure" Brooke Bloom plays Louis XIV's favorite mistress and has something very important to tell us. Madame de Montespan bares her soul (or does she?) in a new theatrical production, bringing glamour, gossip, and palace intrigue into her gripping tale. Is she a murderous villain or an innocent victim of public frenzy? Only you can be the judge, as actress Brooke Bloom stars in a never before seen one-woman play by Gonzalo X. Ruiz and based on Montespan's published memoirs, offering intimate glimpses of Versailles under Louis XIV's reign and set to the magical music of Marin Marais. Françoise Athenais Rochechouart de Montemart, Marquise de Montespan, was one of the most fascinating personalities at the court. A famously beautiful, intelligent and witty woman, she bore several children to the king as his official mistress, while setting court fashion as the leading lady of the pageant that was Versailles. Her fall from grace was equally spectacular, likely as a result of accusations against her in the most infamous court scandal of the time, accusations which were never revealed to her. Modern scholars are split on the question of her guilt or innocence. "A Poisonous Affair" imagines Montespan after leaving the court being privately told of the allegations that brought about her downfall, and reassessing her relationship to Louis XIV.

Riverside Church

Mozart's Divertimento in Eb Major, K. 563 is the only full-length string trio he ever composed. And full-length it certainly is — six movements long and clocking in at around 45 minutes — making it the second longest chamber work Mozart ever wrote, and a giant among string trios composed to this day. “Divertimento” is a genre typically associated with lighthearted, rather informal compositions meant purely for entertainment, and K. 563 stretches that definition in both its scope and profundity. This piece was composed in 1787−1788, a period during which Mozart was facing financial struggles. After repeated, increasingly desperate appeals to his friend Michael Puchberg, a textile merchant, to help him out by sending him money, Puchberg responded by giving Mozart a sizable loan. It is believed that Mozart wrote this piece in dedication to Puchberg in return for this gesture. This work takes advantage of all three voices' capacity for soloistic playing, featuring each of the three instruments in virtuosic roles as well as supporting ones. The result is an intricate conversation among three true equals.

Midtown Concerts presents Members of the Passeri Quartet

A celebration of the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland that captured the fancy of 17th and 18th-century continental Europe. Whether arranging dozens of songs for parlor performance, or incorporating Celtic rhythms and tonalities into their work in subtle ways, composers from Bach to Beethoven made use of the rich ethnomusicological outpouring of folk material from the western isles during these two centuries. Makaris shares this repertoire, alongside pieces by Scottish Baroque composers, traditional tunes, and beloved works by the famed 18th-century Irish harpist and bard, Turlough O’Carolan. Hailed as, “...a beautiful intersection of folk melodies and dance rhythms with the airy textures, refined gestures, and virtuosic asides of the Galant style” (Early Music America), Makaris brings together Baroque and folk musicians to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, HIP-style.

GEMS Presents Makaris

Harrison Hintzsche performs Bach's Cantata 82, Ich habe genug, in collaboration with oboist Caroline Giassi. The program is completed with Bach’s Cantata 199, Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut, with soprano Margaret Carpenter Haigh.

Midtown Concerts presents Margaret Carpenter Haigh & Harrison Hintzsche

The Canadian recorder virtuoso leads a group of Baroque specialists in trio sonatas by the German composers. Vincent Lauzer is one of the finest recorder players on the international early music scene. Following up on his lovely video concert in 2021, he will appear live on our New York stage, presenting a program of works by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach alongside music by Georg Philipp Telemann. Vincent is joined by Risa Browder ~ violin and viola, Wade Davis ~ violoncello and viola da gamba, and John Walthausen ~ harpsichord.

GEMAS presents Vincent Lauzer

There will be a festive reception following the event. Duration approximately 70 minutes.


The Chivalrous Crickets and The Actors' Chapel Choir

Please come to a one-hour salon at Madison Avenue's Arader Galleries. This will be Opera Essentia's first fundraiser event, with an introduction to the company, and highlights of "From Hell to Antigone" — a distillation of Handel's Admeto, coming this spring. Artistic Director and countertenor, Jeffrey Mandelbaum will be joined by soprano Kristin Renee Young and mezzo-soprano Melisa Bonetti, as well as harpsichordist Rebecca Pechefsky and violinist Francis Liu.

Opera Essentia

Arader Galleries

Munich, Vienna, and Prague, centers of art and learning, and the courts of the Wittelsbach Dukes and the Habsburg Emperors, were home to Orlande de Lassus, Jacob Vaet, Philippe de Monte, and Jacob Handl, whose music resounded through the private chapels and public churches of Germany, Austria and Bohemia at the twilight of the Renaissance.

✱ Memento Nostri, by Calliope Tsoupaki
Greek-Dutch composer Calliope Tsoupaki fuses Latin and Byzantine traditions in a mesmerizing tapestry in MEMENTO NOSTRI, accompanied by Parthenia Viol Consort and Farallon Recorder Quartet. Cantori presents the U.S. premiere.

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