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  • September 14, 2017 - Gold and Glitter
    Telemann in Paris Among the most prolific composers of the first half of the 18th century, Georg Philipp Telemann contributed to the development of all pre-Classical styles in Germany, including operas, cantatas, masses, Passions, orchestral and chamber music. To commemorate the 250th anniversary...
    September 21, 2017 - Black Marble
      Opera for Two In the 18th century, opera was the pop music of the time, but without CDs and radio and the only way to hear it at home was to play it oneself. Black Marble present a program featuring colorful repertoire for two violins of an operatic sensibility, with a finale of transcrip...
    September 28, 2017 - Bud Roach
      Evelyn's Diary Accompanying himself on the Italian virginal and baroque guitar, Bud Roach performs a program of English and Italian music inspired by readings from John Evelyn’s diary. Solo cantatas from Stradella, as well as the famous castrato Pasquilini, and English music from Lawes,...
    October 5, 2017 - Deborah Booth & Louise Schulman
    Der getreue Music-Meister: Duos by Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann is a true music master of the 18th century. His Opus 2 duets are well-known by both amateurs and professionals. This program offers some of Telemann's lesser known and later works from Der getreue Music-Meister (Germ...
    October 12, 2017 - Brooklyn Baroque
      Barbara Strozzi and Her World Barbara Strozzi was a remarkable and prolific composer in 17th Century Venice, whose songs are poetically and harmonically daring. The program will include the hypnotic "L'amante segreto" and the powerful "Lagrime mie", as well as duets, a cello sonata by her...
    October 19, 2017 - East of the River
      "SAHEL" Medieval Meets Mandinka East of the River present a dazzling program of medieval estampies, monophonic songs, and traditional west African Mandinka kora music.East of the River was founded by internationally renowned recorder players Nina Stern and Daphna Mor. The project explores...
    October 26, 2017 - Amy Bartram & Dongsok Shin
      Classical German Lieder with Foretepiano This concert offers audiences a rare chance to hear Classical Lieder by Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert accompanied by a copy of Mozart's own Anton Walter fortepiano now in Salzburg, made in 1981 by Philip Belt.Soprano Amy Bartram is a soloist; recital...
    November 2, 2017 - Belladonna Baroque
      Follies Festivals This program centers around one of the earliest written forms of instrumental dance music - the folia. From the boisterous street festivals of fifteenth-century Portugal to the refined entertainments of royal European courts, folias carried the spontaneous energy of popu...
    November 9, 2017 - Duo Dialogues
      Sonata Dialogues This program demonstrates the sonata for cello and basso continuo spanning chronological as well as geographical distance. The Duo Dialogues proposes a journey from Cattaneo, (who published the ' Tratenimenti Armonici da Camera' in Modena in 1700 from which the first sona...
    November 16, 2017 - Fire & Folly
    Totally Telemann! 2017 marks the 250th anniversary of the death of history's most prolific composer, Georg Philipp Telemann. Remarkable among his contemporaries, Telemann not only composed in every genre of his day, but he was also an accomplished player of a range of instruments, including oboe, r...
    November 30, 2017 - Loretta O'Sullivan
      Works for Solo Cello This recital of works of JS. Bach, Guiseppe Maria Dall'Abaco includes Loretta O’Sullivan’s own transcription of the Biber Passacaglia, allowing the audience to experience the resonant, meditative, and intimate quality of solo cello. Loretta O'Sullivan, cellist wit...
    December 7, 2017 - Elena Zamolodchikova & Natalie Kress
      17th Century Baroque Treasures This concert will offer the chance to hear some of the best-known pieces by some of the most illustrious Italian, German and French composers of the 17th century, including Castello, Frescobaldi, Biber, Lully, and Schmelzer.Baroque violinist Natalie Kress an...
    December 14, 2017 - Les Voyageurs
    Music from the French Salons Les Voyageurs will present a varied smorgasbord of French Baroque instrumental music, from the mid-seventeenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries. Well-known composers such as Francois Couperin and Marin Marais are joined by their lesser-known contemporaries for a p...
    December 21, 2017 - BALAM Dance Theatre
    The French Baroque Style and the German Court: A Program of Stringed Instruments and Period Dance Musical selections by Robert de Visée for Baroque guitar and Ludwig Hesse's arrangement of excerpts from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet La Lyre Enchantée for two viols.  ...
    December 28, 2017 - Duo Seraphim
      La Bella Vita: Hidden Gems of Baroque Italy We all want to live la bella vita: the beautiful life. Duo Seraphim explores all aspects of this beautiful life -- loving and losing, laughing and languishing — with this program of rarely-performed Italian Renaissance and Baroque gems, includ...
    January 4, 2018 - Alkemie
    Nowell Sing We: A Medieval Celebration This program takes its inspiration from the celebrations of Twelfth Night and Epiphany, celebrations that have officially marked the end of the Christmas season since the sixth-century Council of Tours. In many Christian traditions, these days observe the cu...
    January 11, 2018 - Hollinshead & Bass
    Time, Cruell Time! An exploration via lute songs about the passing of time and the various emotions that journey evokes--from angst to anticipation, and relief to reflection. These timely songs and lute solos represent works by the greatest Elizabethan composers, including Danyel, Campion, Johnson,...
    January 18, 2018 - Alba Consort
    Treasure Laden This season, the New York Philharmonic has invited ALBA Consort to participate in its “New World Initiative” and explore interpretations of Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony no. 9, “From the New World”. In “Treasure Laden”, ALBA Consort weaves iconic themes from the New World S...
    January 25, 2018 - Theresa Salomon
    Telemann and Bach From Telemann’s touching and introspective Fantasie to the expansive Sonata in C major by Bach, this program explores the range and expressive depth that instrumental music in the first decades of the 18th century had reached.Theresa Salomon received her musical education...
    February 1, 2018 - Douglas Lundeen
    The Truly French Horn The French aesthetic of horn playing hewed to the lyricism and delicacy of the natural horn even after the adoption of valves. This aesthetic was preserved in the design and dimensions of the horns in use. The "internationalization" of the 1970's ushered in changes in repertoi...
    February 8, 2018 - Les Soûls d'amour
    Love and War Love has always been a battlefield, even many centuries ago, and in their third season, les soûls d'amour explore the many ways that the trials of war and the travails of love intersect and collide. Featuring tales of tragedy, triumph, loss, and death--as well as several songs of war....
    February 15, 2018 - Les Barocudas
    Anonymous and Friends Les Barocudas take you back in time to the 17th Century, to explore music from the most powerful European empires of the era. You will be treated to the choicest musical offerings from Italy, Austria, England and France- as well as one anachronism written by their time-traveli...
    February 22, 2018 -ACRONYM
    Ospedale della Pietà Following their previous exploration of composer Johann Rosenmüller’s work while at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice has naturally led ACRONYM to take a fresh look at Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Rosenmüller and Vivaldi held the same position at the Venetian school, just d...
    March 1, 2018 - Les Trois Ãges
    The Dowry of a French-Cypriot Princess In 1434, Anne, the daughter of King Janus of Cyprus and Charlotte of Bourbon, married Louis, Duke of Savoy. Within her dowry was a large and remarkable manuscript containing more than 200 unique and anonymous works. It remains the only surviving witness to t...
    March 8, 2018 - Juliana Soltis & Yi-Heng Yang
    In History's Shadow: Forgotten Female Virtuosi A child prodigy. A brilliant performer championed by Haydn. An entertainer of tzars and kings. The stories are familiar, but the names are not: though Hélène Liebmann, Marianna von Auenbrugger, and Maria Szymanowska were celebrated in their day, hist...
    March 15, 2018 - Pomerium
    Musical Games, Puzzles, and Riddles of the Renaissance Sung by one of the world’s most celebrated vocal ensembles, this program was designed to complement the exhibit of Renaissance playing cards mounted at The Met Cloisters in early 2016. As an example of popular medieval and early Renaissance g...
    March 22, 2018 - Concordian Dawn
    Fortuna Antiqua et Ultra Through the lens of the Goddess of Fortune, Fortuna Antiqua et Ultra will focus primarily on music from the European ars antiqua, c. 1100-1300, featuring works of the troubadours and trouvères, Adam de la Halle, Vitry, the Florence MS, MS du Roi, and the Roman de Fauvel. T...
    March 29, 2018 - ARTEK **Special one time Holy Week concert at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 E. 88th St.**
    Rosenmüller: Lamentations of Jeremiah   The Midtown Concerts holy week tradition continues with a special one-time performance at Immanuel Lutheran Church featuring ARTEK.  ARTEK performed three of the seven surviving Lamentations of Jeremiah composed by the 17th-century German compo...
    April 5, 2018 - Bourbon Baroque
    Luigi Boccherini Stabat Mater This program features music for Holy Week and Easter, including the New York City premiere performance of Luigi Boccherini’s Stabat Mater and vocal music featuring solo trumpet. Louisville, Kentucky-based Bourbon Baroque specializes in the historically informe...
    April 12, 2018 - Ensemble Melos
    Music of Handel and his contemporaries Featuring Handel’s songs and instrumental music, Ensemble Melos are going to bring The 9 German arias to the Midtown audience. The text was taken from Irdisches Vergnügen in Gott, (Earthly Pleasure in God), set by Barthold Brockes, who Handel encountered ...
    April 19, 2018 - Marginalia
    The Book of Beasts The medieval bestiary was a collection of descriptions and stories about animals, ranging from the mundane to the fantastic, which described moral and theological lessons to be learned from the natural world. Marginalia will explore music connected with several favorite creatur...
    April 26, 2018 - Queens Consort
    The Arne Project The Queens Consort are embarking upon a lecture/concert series program entitled "The Arne Project" in which they are collaborating with and bringing down a guest from Memorial University in Newfoundland. Their guest is a musicologist and Arne scholar who has spent years traveling b...
    May 3, 2018 - The Franklin Quartet
    Northern Lights Explore Scandinavia in this program of rarely heard treasures for string quartet from the land of the midnight sun. Curated by the Franklin Quartet’s resident Finn, Marika Holmqvist, Northern Lights presents music by Haydn’s neighbors to the north, including Kraus, nicknamed ...
    May 10, 2018 - Ensemble Leonarda
    "He's Just Not That Into You!" There’s a fine line between love and hate, particularly in love stories where things don't go the way you wanted them to. What happens after the fairy tale ends ‘and they lived happily ever after'? [NOT]. Music of Lully, Bernier's cantata "Medea", plus dramatic ...
    May 17, 2018 - Mr. Jefferson’s Musicians
    A Monticello Miscellany Drawn from archives at the University of Virginia and Monticello, this program reveals the taste of Thomas Jefferson: the music which he and his family played for their domestic entertainment. In his youth, Jefferson practiced the violin three hours a day, but he loved all ...
    May 24, 2018 - Concentus
    Improvisatory Orators: Music from 16th-18th Century Spain and Italy  Much of the music from the 16th to 18th centuries was improvisatory in spirit. The Concentus takes you on a journey from the early works by Spanish composers Diego Ortiz and Antonio de Cabezón to the Italian masterpieces by ...
    May 31, 2018 - Satono Norizuki & Patricia-Ann Neely
    Instrumental Music for Dance in the Medieval Time In this concert, Satono Norizuki and Patricia-Ann Neely explore dance music from Codex Faenza 117 and London Manuscript (MS Add.29987) in the fourteenth and the fifteenth century. The Medieval instrumental duo perform on the vielle (a bowed stringed...
    June 7, 2018 - Empire Viols
    Strictly Organic: transcriptions of organ trios by J.S. Bach and J.L. Krebs Empire Viols explores the organ trio repertoire in this unique program. Two viols and harpsichord take the three lines of these works, providing a new and lovely expressiveness. The composers featured are the master of th...
    June 14, 2018 - Dan McCarthy & Dongsok Shin
    The Emergent Viola This program showcases little-known viola sonatas from the second half of the eighteenth century. While most audiences are familiar with the offerings of J.S. Bach and Telemann that feature viola, I hope to broaden their awareness of existing viola repertoire. It is really during...
    June 28, 2018 - Vox Aquarum
    Anthems and Devotions by Purcell Vox Aquarum is a vocal quartet from Long Island, NY. Its members share equally a dedication toward expanding appreciation for vocal chamber music. https://www.facebook.com/VoxAquarum/ Katrina Montagna, sopranoChelsea Laggan, altoMatthew Koraus, tenor and conti...

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.