EMA News Features & Press Releases

For upcoming concerts, Trio Sefardi will perform traditional songs of the Sephardim, the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. They'll also pay tribute to Flory Jagoda, a mentor who taught the ensemble songs in Ladino, the endangered language of Sephardic Jews.

From a tribute sent by Stanley Ritchie's family to EMA: "Liberating" is the term he used after switching from modern to Baroque violin, adding, "After playing so many years professionally as a [modern] violinist, I found playing Baroque violin akin to driving a sports car!" A memorial celebration is planned for April, 2027.

Harmonia Stellarum Houston, opening its fifth season next week, focuses on music from the Holy Roman Empire, often mixing Central European classics with recently unearthed treasures.

Friends and colleagues have shared with me, and I know from experience, that vocalists with exclusively “classical” training can sometimes be blind to the richness of other music. We tend to minimize our efforts when approaching different or less “formal” genres, or even avoid them completely.

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.

Letter to the Editor: 'It’s sort of a compliment that the current re-structuring of the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra is taken as a paradigm for the decline in early-music studies in higher education...I see HBCO returning to its roots in a necessary and salutary way.'

At the end of April, Marc Minkowski was named Boston Baroque's second-ever music director, following the retirement of founder Martin Pearlman. EMA caught up with the marquee early-music conductor to hear his thoughts on the future of the ensemble and where he sees areas of strength and growth.

In music, we typically absorb emerging high-tech when it's useful to us, from MIDI to digital editing. Artificial intelligence presents an unparalleled challenge and unlocks potential that strains the imagination. What's clear is that the best output from a modern A.I. tool occurs when you already have subject matter expertise.

Since our current early-music revival began in the mid-20th century, countertenors and mezzo-sopranos or contraltos have waged an undeclared war over which vocal type best replicates the great castrati voices of the 18th century. We look at several enduring recordings that spotlight this putative dispute.

'A fellow vocalist,' writes Cecilia Duarte, 'mentioned to me that whenever she was onstage, she would hear the voices of every person that had ever criticized her. It became clear to me that our artistic community had a huge need...'