Early Music News & Reviews

Historical performance is on an upswing across the U.S., and standards have never been higher. But the future of the field is not so clear for the next generation. There's some growth at the collegiate level but, alarmingly, more than a few losses. What's the national picture?

Ronnie Malley, an oud virtuoso, curates an upcoming Newberry Consort program, 'In the Realm of Osman,' devoted to five centuries of music from the Ottoman Empire. In our increasingly intolerant culture, the concert is about what we can learn from living in a pluralistic society.

Retelling her ancestry as a series of musical stories, the author starts with a very great grandmother, Pa I Sha. She walked the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their homelands to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The Chickasaws called this dark chapter “the Removal.” She tells a musical story both harrowing and hopeful, about both hardship and love.

The Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra, founded in 2022, has rapidly blossomed under artistic director Dylan Madoux. His goal is to create a self-sustaining early-music community for Oklahoma City and the region. People around the country are starting to take notice.