EMA News Features & Press Releases

Los Angeles-based viola da gamba player Lucy Jones, the go-to seismologist after a California earthquake, is turning her scientific renown towards a bigger crisis. 'Tempo: Music for Climate Action' uses music to depict the science of climate change.

The latest installment of 'Early Music: the Americas' explores the life and impact of an important Cuban musician from the later 18th century, Esteban Salas. As a composer, pedagogue, and priest, Salas left a huge output of music, but research and performances are still lagging far behind.

As 2023 comes to a close, check out EMA’s 10 most popular features and reviews from the world of early music.

The Aston Magna Festival, which stakes a claim as the oldest period-instrument festival in the country, turned 50 this past summer. As its long-time artistic director, violinist Daniel Stepner, plans to retire, the venerable festival is in for major changes.

An early musician's rant about the streaming-service behemoth Spotify: We have better options! From sound and search to library size and liner notes, there are two newer services that will improve the quality of your early-music listening experience. They're somewhat more fair in artist compensation, too, a meaningful distinction for the consumer.

Meet Nuova Pratica, a stylish ensemble with a progressive-retro attitude. They reject the notion that everything's already been said in the Baroque language. By re-opening the book on Baroque composition, their new works are at turns fresh, varied, and imaginative.

The innovative, cross-cultural work of Salamone Rossi, a Jewish musician at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, has long stirred controversy and strong opinion. The Bay Area's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra will perform Rossi's 1623 'Songs of Solomon,' a set of Psalm settings in Hebrew in the Italian polyphonic style.

With the season in full swing and the holidays fast approaching, it's a good time to revisit one of the most-read EMA stories of 2023. First published in January, it's a top-10 list of "home stay" dos and don'ts. An early-music host shares his tips for making a home stay easy and low-stress for everyone. Share it with anyone who invites musicians into their house...and traveling musicians will be grateful.

A thank you from EMA executive director, David McCormick.

New York City's TENET Vocal Artists is devoting its 15th season to music by, for, and about women. It’s not to suggest that men are not important, says TENET founder Jolle Greenleaf. Instead, 'it’s to ask what changes in the sound, in the dynamics, and how do we interact with each other.'