Saturday, May 2
Le grant rhetorique: The Music & Poetry of Guillaume de Machaut
Blue Heron (Scott Metcalfe, director)
A feast of songs and motets by the most famous poet and composer of the 14th century. Experience a broad range of Machaut’s captivating secular music—by far the largest part of his output—including the lay, the most virtuosic of the old forms; the polytextual motet, combining French courtly texts with plainchant melodies deployed allegorically; and the three modern lyric forms codified by Machaut himself: the ballade, virelai, and rondeau.
Tickets $11.50-$95.50, Under 18 FREE
2pm - First Church Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge
https://www.blueheron.org/concerts/le-grant-rhetorique-machaut/
Blue Heron (Scott Metcalfe, director)
A feast of songs and motets by the most famous poet and composer of the 14th century. Experience a broad range of Machaut’s captivating secular music—by far the largest part of his output—including the lay, the most virtuosic of the old forms; the polytextual motet, combining French courtly texts with plainchant melodies deployed allegorically; and the three modern lyric forms codified by Machaut himself: the ballade, virelai, and rondeau.
Tickets $11.50-$95.50, Under 18 FREE
2pm - First Church Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge
https://www.blueheron.org/concerts/le-grant-rhetorique-machaut/
Making Overtures: Overtures and Overture Selections by Telemann, Bach, Zelenka and Fischer
Arcadia Players (Andrus Madsen, director)
The centerpiece of this joyous concert will be Telemann's own "Water Music," the glorious Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth (Hamburg Ebb and Flow), a musical homage to the city where the composer lived and worked for over 40 years. Telemann's tribute captures various moods of the Elbe River as it makes its way through the city, while also honoring a variety of water-deities and even celebrating the local boatmen with some boisterous sailors' dances.
2:30pm - Wesley Methodist Church, Hadley, MA
https://www.arcadiaplayers.org/
Arcadia Players (Andrus Madsen, director)
The centerpiece of this joyous concert will be Telemann's own "Water Music," the glorious Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth (Hamburg Ebb and Flow), a musical homage to the city where the composer lived and worked for over 40 years. Telemann's tribute captures various moods of the Elbe River as it makes its way through the city, while also honoring a variety of water-deities and even celebrating the local boatmen with some boisterous sailors' dances.
2:30pm - Wesley Methodist Church, Hadley, MA
https://www.arcadiaplayers.org/
The Organ Masters
Peter Sykes rouses the great Roosevelt Organ at the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington in a program of works from the great French organ tradition that brings the beauty and power of this cultural treasure to life.
3pm - First Congregational Church, Great Barrington, MA
$40-45
https://berkshirebach.org/events
Peter Sykes rouses the great Roosevelt Organ at the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington in a program of works from the great French organ tradition that brings the beauty and power of this cultural treasure to life.
3pm - First Congregational Church, Great Barrington, MA
$40-45
https://berkshirebach.org/events
Sunday, May 3
BRS Monthly Meeting
The Boston Recorder Society is excited to return to a full season of monthly meetings for the first time since the pandemic. If you play recorders, baroque flute, early winds (including reeds and brass), or early strings, we look forward to making music with you. Please join us for our 70th year of playing together! Visit our Registration page to sign up.
1-3:30pm - Lesley University building at 1815 Massachusetts Ave. (Porter Square) Cambridge, MA
$25-30
http://bostonrecorders.org/
The Boston Recorder Society is excited to return to a full season of monthly meetings for the first time since the pandemic. If you play recorders, baroque flute, early winds (including reeds and brass), or early strings, we look forward to making music with you. Please join us for our 70th year of playing together! Visit our Registration page to sign up.
1-3:30pm - Lesley University building at 1815 Massachusetts Ave. (Porter Square) Cambridge, MA
$25-30
http://bostonrecorders.org/
Friday, May 8
Williams Chamber Choir Spring Concert
Williams Chamber Choir conducted by Anna Lenti, with period ensemble.
The spring concert features Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 and Buxtehude's "Ad Manus" and "Ad Latus" with period instruments. This concert is part of the Williams College Department of Music's 2025-2026 season.
7:30 PM - Chapin Hall, Williams College
Free and open to the public
Williams Chamber Choir conducted by Anna Lenti, with period ensemble.
The spring concert features Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 and Buxtehude's "Ad Manus" and "Ad Latus" with period instruments. This concert is part of the Williams College Department of Music's 2025-2026 season.
7:30 PM - Chapin Hall, Williams College
Free and open to the public
Music from 17th Century South Germany: Bertali, Schmelzer, Biber, Capricornus
Newton Baroque: Susanna Ogata, violin, Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba, Andrus Madsen, harpsichord
7:30 pm - Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St., Boston, MA
https://www.newtonbaroque.org/concerts.html
Newton Baroque: Susanna Ogata, violin, Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba, Andrus Madsen, harpsichord
7:30 pm - Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St., Boston, MA
https://www.newtonbaroque.org/concerts.html
Saturday, May 9
Music from 17th Century South Germany: Bertali, Schmelzer, Biber, Capricornus
Newton Baroque: Susanna Ogata, violin, Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba, Andrus Madsen, harpsichord
7:30pm - Nathaniel Allen House, 35 Webster St., Newton, MA
https://www.newtonbaroque.org/concerts.html
Newton Baroque: Susanna Ogata, violin, Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba, Andrus Madsen, harpsichord
7:30pm - Nathaniel Allen House, 35 Webster St., Newton, MA
https://www.newtonbaroque.org/concerts.html
Saturday, May 16
Fugues & Fire: Masterworks by Bach & Vivaldi
Join Aurora Camerata, under the direction of Artistic Director James Kennerley, and ChoralArt Camerata (Robert Russell, Music Director) for a stunning evening of historical performance at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland, Maine. The program features four iconic Baroque works inspired by the seasons, including the ever-vibrant Concerto for Two Trumpets by Vivaldi, the joyous splendor of Vivaldi’s “Gloria”, the virtuosic Jig Fugue for organ solo, and the majestic grandeur of Bach’s Magnificat.
3pm - St. Luke's Cathedral, Portland, ME
https://auroracamerata.org/concert/fugues-fire/
Join Aurora Camerata, under the direction of Artistic Director James Kennerley, and ChoralArt Camerata (Robert Russell, Music Director) for a stunning evening of historical performance at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland, Maine. The program features four iconic Baroque works inspired by the seasons, including the ever-vibrant Concerto for Two Trumpets by Vivaldi, the joyous splendor of Vivaldi’s “Gloria”, the virtuosic Jig Fugue for organ solo, and the majestic grandeur of Bach’s Magnificat.
3pm - St. Luke's Cathedral, Portland, ME
https://auroracamerata.org/concert/fugues-fire/
Worthy of the Highest Praise: Bembo and Vivaldi
Cappella Clausura
Are you familiar with the name “Antonia Bembo”? How about “Antonio Vivaldi”? I’d wager that you’re familiar with the latter but not the former - which is exactly the point. Antonia Bembo was an Italian composer and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The reason you haven’t heard of her isn’t because her music is underwhelming: Bembo’s talent actually took her from Italy to France, where she was employed by King Louis XIV as a composer and singer. Her music has been unduly neglected because of her gender; she is every bit as good as her male contemporaries, and we’re proving it by putting her music side-by-side with the Vivaldi Gloria - one of the classics of the choral repertoire - and letting you draw your own conclusions. According to one etymology, the name “Antonia/o means “worthy of praise”. In this little-heard work by Antonia Bembo, you’ll hear that she’s just as praiseworthy as any Antonio. Featuring music by Antonia Bembo, Antonio Vivaldi, and others
4PM - Grace Episcopal Church, Newton, MA
https://www.clausura.org/
Cappella Clausura
Are you familiar with the name “Antonia Bembo”? How about “Antonio Vivaldi”? I’d wager that you’re familiar with the latter but not the former - which is exactly the point. Antonia Bembo was an Italian composer and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The reason you haven’t heard of her isn’t because her music is underwhelming: Bembo’s talent actually took her from Italy to France, where she was employed by King Louis XIV as a composer and singer. Her music has been unduly neglected because of her gender; she is every bit as good as her male contemporaries, and we’re proving it by putting her music side-by-side with the Vivaldi Gloria - one of the classics of the choral repertoire - and letting you draw your own conclusions. According to one etymology, the name “Antonia/o means “worthy of praise”. In this little-heard work by Antonia Bembo, you’ll hear that she’s just as praiseworthy as any Antonio. Featuring music by Antonia Bembo, Antonio Vivaldi, and others
4PM - Grace Episcopal Church, Newton, MA
https://www.clausura.org/
Sunday, May 17
Worthy of the Highest Praise: Bembo and Vivaldi
Cappella Clausura
Are you familiar with the name “Antonia Bembo”? How about “Antonio Vivaldi”? I’d wager that you’re familiar with the latter but not the former - which is exactly the point. Antonia Bembo was an Italian composer and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The reason you haven’t heard of her isn’t because her music is underwhelming: Bembo’s talent actually took her from Italy to France, where she was employed by King Louis XIV as a composer and singer. Her music has been unduly neglected because of her gender; she is every bit as good as her male contemporaries, and we’re proving it by putting her music side-by-side with the Vivaldi Gloria - one of the classics of the choral repertoire - and letting you draw your own conclusions. According to one etymology, the name “Antonia/o means “worthy of praise”. In this little-heard work by Antonia Bembo, you’ll hear that she’s just as praiseworthy as any Antonio. Featuring music by Antonia Bembo, Antonio Vivaldi, and others
4PM - Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St. Boston, MA
https://www.clausura.org/
Cappella Clausura
Are you familiar with the name “Antonia Bembo”? How about “Antonio Vivaldi”? I’d wager that you’re familiar with the latter but not the former - which is exactly the point. Antonia Bembo was an Italian composer and singer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The reason you haven’t heard of her isn’t because her music is underwhelming: Bembo’s talent actually took her from Italy to France, where she was employed by King Louis XIV as a composer and singer. Her music has been unduly neglected because of her gender; she is every bit as good as her male contemporaries, and we’re proving it by putting her music side-by-side with the Vivaldi Gloria - one of the classics of the choral repertoire - and letting you draw your own conclusions. According to one etymology, the name “Antonia/o means “worthy of praise”. In this little-heard work by Antonia Bembo, you’ll hear that she’s just as praiseworthy as any Antonio. Featuring music by Antonia Bembo, Antonio Vivaldi, and others
4PM - Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St. Boston, MA
https://www.clausura.org/
Friday, May 22
CSEM Presents Viennese Impressions - String Quartets from the Age of Enlightenment
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
7:30pm - University Lutheran Church, 66 Winthrop St. Cambridge, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
7:30pm - University Lutheran Church, 66 Winthrop St. Cambridge, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Friday, May 22 - Monday, May 25
AEM Memorial Day Weekend Workshop
Directed by Valerie Horst with faculty Rainer Beckmann, recorder, Deborah Booth recorder & flute, Eric Haas, recorder & flute, Lawrence Lipnik recorder & viol, Patricia Petersen recorder & early notation, Gwyn Roberts recorder & flute, Catherine ("Cat") Slowik, viol
Get a head start on your summer with a weekend of small and larger ensemble music in an idyllic retreat center in rural Connecticut. Classes include mixed ensembles, special Medieval and Renaissance topics, early notation ensemble, and all-group playing of grand Renaissance works, for small and large instruments. In the evenings enjoy all-workshop group sessions, a Sunday evening faculty concert and a gala party! The von Huene Workshop is in residence with music and instruments for sale.
Tuition: $365 regular, $195 work-study
4pm Fri.-12:30pm Mon. - Wisdom House, 229 E. Litchfield Rd. Litchfield, CT
https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/workshops/memorial-day-weekend-workshop
Directed by Valerie Horst with faculty Rainer Beckmann, recorder, Deborah Booth recorder & flute, Eric Haas, recorder & flute, Lawrence Lipnik recorder & viol, Patricia Petersen recorder & early notation, Gwyn Roberts recorder & flute, Catherine ("Cat") Slowik, viol
Get a head start on your summer with a weekend of small and larger ensemble music in an idyllic retreat center in rural Connecticut. Classes include mixed ensembles, special Medieval and Renaissance topics, early notation ensemble, and all-group playing of grand Renaissance works, for small and large instruments. In the evenings enjoy all-workshop group sessions, a Sunday evening faculty concert and a gala party! The von Huene Workshop is in residence with music and instruments for sale.
Tuition: $365 regular, $195 work-study
4pm Fri.-12:30pm Mon. - Wisdom House, 229 E. Litchfield Rd. Litchfield, CT
https://www.amherstearlymusic.org/workshops/memorial-day-weekend-workshop
Saturday, May 23
CSEM Presents Viennese Impressions - String Quartets from the Age of Enlightenment
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
4:00pm - Village Church in Weston, 130 Newton St. Weston, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
4:00pm - Village Church in Weston, 130 Newton St. Weston, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Sunday, May 24
CSEM Presents Viennese Impressions - String Quartets from the Age of Enlightenment
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
4:00pm - St. John's Episcopal Church, 705 Hale St. Beverly Farms, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Arrow String Quartet: Amelia Sie, violin, Alyssa Campbell, violin, Jimmy Drancsak, viola, Chelsea Bernstein, cello.
For the 2025-26 season finale, CSEM is proud to present the Arrow Quartet, an up-and-coming string quartet founded in 2021 by students from Julliard’s Historical Performance program with a concert of eighteenth century string quartet works!
4:00pm - St. John's Episcopal Church, 705 Hale St. Beverly Farms, MA
Pay-As-You-Can
https://csem.org/concerts/arrow-quartet/
Saturday, May 30
Baroque Brilliance: Bach’s Motets in Concert
Crescendo Vocal Ensemble directed by Christine Gevert
While not composed as a set, these six motets BWV 225- 230 are considered to be among the pinnacles of the choral repertoire. All were written for St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach was director of music. Four of the six were written for funeral services of prominent Leipzig citizens, and are scored for double chorus without instrumental accompaniment. Bach took the traditional motet and elevated it into a more ambitious, multi- movement choral concerto, expanding the boundaries of the genre. Beyond their technical brilliance these motets express a unique emotional and theological depth.
4pm - Saint James Place, Great Barrington, MA
May 31, 2026 at 4pm - Trinity Church, Lakeville, CT
https://crescendomusic.org/programs/liveperformances/
Crescendo Vocal Ensemble directed by Christine Gevert
While not composed as a set, these six motets BWV 225- 230 are considered to be among the pinnacles of the choral repertoire. All were written for St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach was director of music. Four of the six were written for funeral services of prominent Leipzig citizens, and are scored for double chorus without instrumental accompaniment. Bach took the traditional motet and elevated it into a more ambitious, multi- movement choral concerto, expanding the boundaries of the genre. Beyond their technical brilliance these motets express a unique emotional and theological depth.
4pm - Saint James Place, Great Barrington, MA
May 31, 2026 at 4pm - Trinity Church, Lakeville, CT
https://crescendomusic.org/programs/liveperformances/
Sunday, May 31
Baroque Brilliance: Bach’s Motets in Concert
Crescendo Vocal Ensemble directed by Christine Gevert
While not composed as a set, these six motets BWV 225- 230 are considered to be among the pinnacles of the choral repertoire. All were written for St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach was director of music. Four of the six were written for funeral services of prominent Leipzig citizens, and are scored for double chorus without instrumental accompaniment. Bach took the traditional motet and elevated it into a more ambitious, multi- movement choral concerto, expanding the boundaries of the genre. Beyond their technical brilliance these motets express a unique emotional and theological depth.
4pm - Trinity Church, Lakeville, CT
https://crescendomusic.org/programs/liveperformances/
Crescendo Vocal Ensemble directed by Christine Gevert
While not composed as a set, these six motets BWV 225- 230 are considered to be among the pinnacles of the choral repertoire. All were written for St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach was director of music. Four of the six were written for funeral services of prominent Leipzig citizens, and are scored for double chorus without instrumental accompaniment. Bach took the traditional motet and elevated it into a more ambitious, multi- movement choral concerto, expanding the boundaries of the genre. Beyond their technical brilliance these motets express a unique emotional and theological depth.
4pm - Trinity Church, Lakeville, CT
https://crescendomusic.org/programs/liveperformances/