EMA FEATURES & PRESS RELEASES
EMA Announces 2026 Engagement Awards
EMA Engagement Awards are intended to promote awareness and appreciation of early music and historical performance with the goal of drawing new audiences and participants. Awards of up to $2,500 are offered annually to support engagement projects for children and/or adults by organizations, ensembles, and individual artists.
Serenading the Revolution: Regimental Bands of Music
Music, much of it performed by military bands, is inextricably linked to the mythology of the American Revolution. Yet one of early America's most popular musical ensembles, the regimental band, has been obscured from the late 18th-c. soundscape.
‘Niagara’ and America’s Musical Heritage
A scholar of American musical history reflects on 'Niagara,' an obscure symphony that connects centuries of our nation's cultural life, proving once again that the only thing fixed about American musical identity is that it remains in a constant state of flux.
Musings: Play It With Style
'That raises the question of what we’re doing when we study all those treatises and try to play like Couperin. Probably not everybody sounded like Couperin in Couperin’s day, or wanted to. And maybe we don’t actually want to sound like Couperin, either — we want to sound like a plausible, tasteful, expressive but individual performer.'
submit a story idea to EMA
EMA RECORDING & BOOK REVIEWS
Frauenlob and Medieval Marian Song
An imaginative new album is devoted to music by Heinrich von Meissen, a minstrel poet from Saxony, known as Frauenlob for his praise of the Virgin Mary. Harpist and soprano Anna O'Connell and friends offer his spiritual, often mystical works alongside religious music from other German sources including Hildegard and Oswald von Wolkenstein.
A Game of Arthurian Legends and Period Instruments
A beautifully illustrated 2026 Arthurian video game, 'Legends of the Round Table,' with narration from Boston Camerata's Anne Azéma, sets a new high standard. The period instruments and repertoire supports the plot and visuals for an absorbing game experience.
Scarlatti Via Clementi on a Square Piano
In 1791, Muzio Clementi published an edition of Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas, designed for performance by the nascent piano-forte. A recording of this edition, on a lovely square piano of the period—discovered languishing in a California antique shop—tells its own remarkable tale.
The Fabric of Indonesian Music History
The co-editors of this book of essays, Anna Maria Busse Berger and Henry Spiller, have collected a multitude of narratives addressing how outsiders transformed the fabric of Indonesian musical history.
Notably, Busse Berger has spent most of her career working in early-music scholarship; she now exemplifies the trend toward expanding the definition of early music to a global scale.
submit a book or CD for consideration
COMMUNITY NEWS & PRESS RELEASES
Historical Harp Society 2026 Conference - Intersections between Historical Methodologies and Performance Practice Presentations will explore how historical harp players bridge the gap between historical evidence and how we approach ...
The Pandora Consort, a dynamic force in early music, is excited to release an album of their sought-after concert program, Hildegard Reanimated: Vision in Vision. "The Pandora Consort is an ...
PORTLAND, Ore. — July 29, 2026 — Cappella Romana, the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble devoted to the sacred music of the Christian East and West, today announced a search for ...
This year’s program honors the vision and history of Folger Consort and Co-Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall Folger Consort, the award-winning early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, ...
