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  • September 15, 2016 East of the River - Baladi
    A brand new program by esteemed ensemble East of the River, featuring "Recorder virtuosi" (NY Times) Duo Nina Stern and Daphna Mor together with percussionist/drummers Shane Shanahan (The Silk Road Ensemble) and John Hadfield (recently featured in Modern Drummer). Based on a program origianlly creat...
    September 22, 2016 The Vivaldi Project - Discovering the Classical String Trio
    The Vivaldi Project String Trio presents four exceptional and virtually unknown Classical String Trios by Haydn, JC Bach, Boccherini, and Campioni. Largely overlooked, these trios are part of an extraordinarily flexible and exciting repertoire that play an important role in the story of chamber mu...
    September 29 2016 Arnie Tanimoto & Elliot Figg- The Father and the Son
    Although the popularity of the viol waned in the 18th century, Johann Sebastian Bach and his son, Carl Philipp, each left behind three sonatas for viol and keyboard. These pieces are not only gems of the German viol repertiore, but also representations of the musical geniuses of these famed member...
    October 6, 2016 Elinor Frey - Bach Cello Suites 2 & 3 and Linda Catlin Smith's Ricercar
    The Bach cello suites continue to engage and attract audiences and performers alike. They have also served as a reference point for solo cello music in the centuries following their composition. Although these suites were not a direct inspiration for Smith’s “Ricercar”, many similarities and l...
    October 13, 2016 Gavin Black - Frescobaldi on a Seventeenth Century Harpsichord
    A selection of keyboard music of Frescobaldi played on an anonymous seventeenth-century harpsichord. The program is balanced: two longish pieces and groups of shorter works, some dance-based, some contrapuntal, some in toccata form. The audience will be invited to look over or try out the instrument...
    October 20, 2016 Opera Feroce - Fugitives from the Baroque
    In a departure from their traditional "less-than-traditional-but-still-definitely-Baroque" fare, the singers of Opera Feroce try their vocal cords at some somewhat earlier Early Music. Renaissance trios and lute songs by Dowland, Dering, Janequin and others. With guest Mark Ettinger on fretful instr...
    October 27, 2016 Motomi Igarashi & Arnie Tanimoto - The Nymphes of the Rhine
    The Nymphs of the Rhine is a one of Johannes Schenck's signature compositions.These duets for violas da gamba were published at beginning of the18th century in Amsterdam, at a time when national styles from France,Italy, and England began to meld together in the Low Countries. Thesounds of the two v...
    November 3, 2016 The Kingsbury Ensemble - The Italians and their Influence
    Italian courts of the 17th century were brilliant cultural centers which attracted many musicians, artists and thinkers from all European countries. The influence of the Italian style is therefore felt well beyond the country's borders, particularly in Germany and France, in the music of composers s...
    November 10, 2016 The Karr-Yang Duo - Musical Alchemy
    The earliest scientists believed that discovering and understanding God's physical laws would enable them to elevate base metals into gold; likewise, the laws of learned counterpoint, it was hoped, would elevate earthly music to mirror the music of God himself. As musical style transitioned to the c...
    November 17, 2016 The Western Wind - The Divine Orlando: Music of Orlando di Lasso
    Composer Orlando di Lasso was kidnapped three times as a child because of his beautiful voice. Known as turbulent artist of swiftly changing moods, this program reflects a variety of his works including Italian madrigals, French chansons, German lieder, and Latin motets. Linda Lee Jones, Michele ...
    December 1, 2016, Satono Norizuki & Patricia-Ann Neely - Life, Prayer, and Dance in the Medieval Period
    Satono Norizuki, clavisimbalumPatricia-Ann Neely, vielle
 This concert explores sacred and secular music in France, Germany, and Italy in the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries. The repertoire includes a wide range of repertoire of instrumental works, such as French and Italian music from Cod...
    December 15, 2016 Duo Seraphim - Hors d'oevres: Sound Bites of 17th c. France
    Niccolo Seligmann, Viola da GambaSarah Hawkey, Soprano ...
    December 8, 2016 Jörg-Michael Schwarz & Dongsok Shin - Trios for Two, Part Three
    The collection of sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord represent some of Bach's most eloquent and ingenious contrapuntal writing, the most distinguishing element being the concertante treatment of both the right and left hand of the harpsichord, which, together with the violin part, forms a ...
    December 22, 2016 My Lord Chamberlain's Consort - A Renaissance Christmas
    Celebrate the warmth and beauty of the midwinter season with a round of traditional songs, carols, noels, and instrumental dances arranged for lutes, voices, viol, recorder, and harp.Active since 1997, My Lord Chamberlain's Consort specializes in programs of Elizabethan lute song. The Consort has wo...
    December 29, 2016 Burning River Baroque - Forces of Good and Evil: Seasonal Works by Musical Saints and Sinners
    It can be easy to presume that the extraordinarily talented classical composers we know and love led personal lives that were as pristine as their professional successes. Even the greatest artists, however, must live with the human condition. In a program that parallels the goodness found in music w...
    January 5, 2017 BALAM Dance Theater - Music and Dance from the Courts of Europe and the New World
    Enjoy a program presenting Baroque music and dance from the courts and villages of Europe and the New World, with excerpts from Tom Zajac’s reconstruction of Codex Trujillo, danced by Carlos Fittante and company members of the BALAM Dance Theatre and featuring guest musicians including, Maureen Mu...
    January 12, 2017 Guido's Ear - En’Attendant Souffir…Espoir…Réjouir...
    A medieval feast featuring lively estampie and salterelli contrasted with the hauntingly beautiful music of the Ars Subtilior, performed on rebecs, vielles, bagpipes, shawms, and harp.Guido's Ear is an early music ensemble specializing in repertoire from the Medieval to the early Baroque, presenting...
    January 19, 2017 Inwood Baroque - Les goûts-réunis
    Les goûts-réunis is an exploration of the cosmopolitan qualities featured in Couperin, Telemann and Rameau's works. Their work hints towards the definition and sometimes unification of the stylistic qualities of 18th century French and Italian music. They represent refined and elaborate examples o...
    January 26, 2017 Concordian Dawn - Fortune's Remedy
    The music found in Guillaume de Machaut's seminal lyric narrative, "Le Remède de Fortune" (fourteenth century) exhibits a range of style drawing from traditions of both the ars antiqua and the ars nova. Machaut's didactic text and beautiful music tell the age-old story of a lover struggling for res...
    February 2, 2017 KHORIKOS - Musica Reservata: 500 Years of Chamber Singing
    Musica reservata is a term that can be used to describe florid, emotive singing, or it can be a term which describes music performed in an intimate setting. This program performed by KHORIKOS seeks to present the best of chamber choral works from the 12th to the 17th centuries.KHORIKOS is one of New...
    February 9, 2017 Zweikampf - Face Off: Dueling Harpsichords
    The virtuosic possibilities of the harpsichord are expounded with the addition of a second instrument, creating natural competition between the two players. Composers, exploiting this natural inclination to ‘show off,’ created pieces full of glittering phrases and brilliant passage work, a chanc...
    February 16, 2017 Juilliard Historical Performance
    We are delighted to present an ensemble of outstanding students from the Juilliard School's Historical Performance Program! Jeff Girton & Augusta McKay Lodge, violins; Keiran Campbell, cello; Peter Ferretti, bass; Adam Cockerham, theorbo & guitar; Robert Warner, harpsichord...
    February 23, 2017 Grand Harmonie - The Expression of the Wind Quintet
    This brilliant, virtuosic, and passionate work by George Onslow represents a leap forward in the history of wind quintet writing. Emotional and expressive, Onslow's music showcases the numerous advancements in wind instrument development in the early 19th century, including exciting chromaticism, ...
    March 2, 2017 Nina Stern, with Jeffrey Grossman & Stephanie Corwin - Italian Jewels
    Highlights of the Italian Baroque instrumental repertory, including some of the earliest examples of the sonata by Giovanni Battista Fontana and Dario Castello, Corelli's famous Follia variations and the virtuosic trio in a minor for recorder, obbligato bassoon and basso continuo. Nina Stern, recor...
    March 9, 2017 Broadwood Junction - Rule Britannia!
    During the 18th-century, Britain experienced a rapid expansion in their influence throughout the globe. Join us as we explore the ways that composers commemorated the exploits of a rising superpower. At times fervent, kitschy, and sentimental, these pieces capture the spirit of a nation. Francis Li...
    March 16, 2017 Galileo's Daughters - Sacred Women
    Seventeenth-century Italy saw the blossoming of educational opportunities for women, as well as an increase in their intellectually creative activities. Not all girls trained in musical composition became nuns, but the life of an upper-class nun afforded a woman the leisure to learn and pursue music...
    March 23, 2017 The Queens Consort - Venetian Masters
    Venice was an epicenter of artistic and musical creativity in the 17th century. Its thriving musical venues ranged from Europe´s first public opera houses and scholarly academies to religious institutions such as San Marco. The composers on the program today lived and worked for at least some time ...
    March 30, 2017 Gavin Black, harpsichord
    Schedule change: We regret that Black Marble Duo has had to cancel their appearance. Following his enthusiastic reception this past fall, harpsichordist Gavin Black has agreed to a return engagement on this date. Please click for more information.   This coming Thursday, March 30th, Gavin Bla...
    April 6, 2017 The Musicians of BALAM - Sonatas for Spring
      The Musicians of BALAM met in 2015 when they were brought together by Carlos Fittante of BALAM Dance Theatre to prepare a concert in this venue. A second concert by BALAM and the Musicians was presented this past January, and now the Musicians are appearing in their first outing witho...
    April 13 2017 ARTEK - Stabat Mater Special holy week performance at Immanuel Lutheran Church at 122 E. 88th St. and Lexington
    Music for Holy Week for sopranos and basso continuo from the French baroque tradition, as part of the Midtown Concerts series. Repertoire includes the Miserere of Michel-Richard Delalande, and the Stabat Mater of Charpentier. Rebecca Mariman, sopranoJuli Borst, mezzo-sopranoMotomi Igarashi, viola d...
    April 20, 2017 New York Classical Quartet - Boccherini's First and Last String Quartets
    The New York Classical Quartet play the first and last of Boccherini's 90 string quartets: Op. 2, no. 1 in C minor from 1761 (probably predating Haydn's first), and Op. 64, no. 1 in F from 1805 (by which time Haydn had ceased composing.) Piquant, droll, tragic, languid, heroic, and festive are just ...
    April 27, 2017 Hesperus - Devices and Divisions
    A program of intriguing Ayres, Suites, Divisions and Dances by Locke, Jenkins, Dowland and Young (including the 21st century premiere of Jenkins' trios for three trebles). Tina Chancey, 5 and 6-string pardessus de viole, trebleJohn Mark Rozendaal, viola da gambaLoren Ludwing, viola da gambaArnie Ta...
    May 4, 2017 Abendmusik - The Consorts of William White and his Contemporaries
    William White is one of the least well-known composers in Jacobean England. He is believed to be a contemporary of Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins, Ford, Coprario, etc. His fantasies are characterized by a brilliant ability to pair two instruments together in featured sections and weaving a tasteful and spir...
    May 11, 2017 Diderot String Quartet - Purely Mozart
    Join Diderot String Quartet for an afternoon of Mozartean delight! This program features selections from KV 387 and KV 575, two sunny pieces that are among Mozart's most famous and beloved quartets. Adriane Post, violinJohanna Novom, violinKyle Miller, violaPaul Dwyer, cello   ...
    May 18, 2017 Alkemie - Love to my Liking: Refrains of Desire in Gothic France
    Elena Mullins, soprano & percussionSian Ricketts, soprano & recordersTracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano & percussionDavid McCormick, vielleNiccolo Seligmann, vielle & percussionLong before iPods, these the trouvères of Northern France penned the music they wanted to hear and share. Their...
    May 25, 2017 The Lyra Consort - Rare Jewels of the French Baroque Pt. 2
    Vita Wallace, violinBeverly Au, pardessus de violeLisa Terry, basse de violewith Rosamund Morley, pardessus de violeDeborah Fox, theorbe The Lyra Consort continues its exploration of rare jewels of French baroque, highlighting the pardessus de viole in a brand new program of lyra viol solos, sonata...
    June 1, 2017 Marginalia - Le Chansonnier du Roi
    In this new program, Marginalia explores the instrumental and vocal repertoire preserved in the Chansonnier du Roi, an important source for French music of the thirteenth century. Included are songs by troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn and trouvere Gace Brulé, as well as the estampie royals and other...
    June 8, 2017 Bud Roach - The Muse's Delight
    This programme will recreate a salon presentation of late 17th- and early 18th-century English songs, as they would have been commonly heard at the time, with the singer providing his own accompaniment at the Italian virginal. Composers Henry Purcell, John Blow, John Eccles, and others published in ...
    June 15, 2017 Abigail Chapman & Matthew Weinman - Lute Songs from the Elizabethan Golden Age
      This program includes lute songs by some of the most important composers of the Elizabethan era: John Dowland, Thomas Campion, Robert Jones, Philip Rosetter, and Thomas Morley. Represented here are some of the main themes that run throughout English song during this period, from celebration ...
    June 22, 2017 Sonnambula - Musique à Trois: Works for Viols Alone
    The ladies of Sonnambula take on the three-part viol repertoire in this program to feature the unique sound of viols, alone. From the soloistic bass writing of Marais in seventeenth-century France, to offshoots in Germany and in Reformation England, we explore some of the most supreme repertoire for...
    June 29, 2017 Ryland Angel & Members of the Queens Baroque Ensemble - Portraits of Mary
      Ryland Angel - countertenor Malachai Bandy - viola da gamba Eva Lymenstull - viola da gamba William Trafka - organ with guest Jonathan May - countertenor    The nineteenth season of the Midtown Concerts closes with a very special program, St. Bart's Director of Music, William T...

Midtown Concerts sponsors lunchtime performances of music of the 18th century and earlier. Ensembles are chosen by a panel of early music specialists from the metropolitan area.

Time: Thursdays, 1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

Concerts are in person at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan, AND live streamed.