EMA News Features & Press Releases

Baroque violinist Danqi Zeng, born in China and currently a doctoral student at Indiana Univ., won the 2025 Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. The prize includes $10,000 and at least five concert engagements in the coming seasons. 'Zeng's Bach spoke profoundly,' remarked one juror, 'and with an immediacy made more palpable by the unforced resonance of her Baroque instrument.'

Stuck on sloppy handwriting from the 17th century, a musician recently turned to artificial intelligence to help solve a motet's textual problems. Despite many negative impressions, 'the process of exploring ChatGPT opened my eyes to its potential' as a valuable research partner.

Pioneering American folklorist Francis James Child, born 200 years ago, will be celebrated this week for his lasting cultural influence, especially for his collection known as the Child Ballads. Today, folk revivals 'find an essence of identity against the commodification of culture,' protesting how 'everything can be sold.'

A new period-instrument ensemble, Chicago's Bach in the City, opens its inaugural season next week. Artistic leaders Richard Webster and Jason Moy, veterans of the Chicago classical scene, have secured dedicated funding to give the group staying power. 'Suddenly, now, we have a critical mass of period-instrument players attracted to Chicago, and that was not true a decade ago.'

Gathering for an English country dance is like taking a walk through the history of social dance and music, much of it based on Playford's 'The English Dancing Master.' Always a popular and fun night out, the art form today attracts a broad range of participants and is sometimes backed by an early-music band.

Norwegian conductor Grete Pedersen is in demand everywhere just now. A finalist for the Bay Area's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, she'll become principal conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum starting in 2026 and has been at the helm of the idyllic Carmel Bach Festival for the past three seasons. In a conversation along Carmel Beach, she talked about her organic approaches to early music.

Change ringing started in North America in the 1740s. It's a musical team sport, it's math for musicians, it's an exercise for engineers. The ringing of the bells in an ordered sequence, as a piece of music, is a historical hobby that's been growing in the U.S. in recent decades. We checked in with the MIT Guild of Bell Ringers in Boston to peal a bell ourselves.

Academia de Música Antigua de Medellín is one of a few schools in Latin America that teaches historical performance. But newer students will need instruments. In a brilliant partnership, the inaugural Latin American Congress on Baroque Luthiery will help supply the Academia with a range of stringed instruments.

The Amherst Early Music Festival's Baroque Opera Project this summer focused on a rarity, Georg Reutter’s 'Dafne.' Students and early-career singers and instrumentalists brought this ancient #metoo tale to life.

Blue Hill Bach, a festival in the idyllic harbor town in Maine, celebrates its 15th season this summer, with performances July 15-19. They play each concert in a different often surprising location, like a shipyard. With booming arts tourism and new festival leadership, the Blue Hill Bach is ready for the next step.