EMA FEATURES & PRESS RELEASES
Baroque Violinist Wins Barbash Bach Competition
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.'
Can AI Decipher a Manuscript Better than You?
Stuck on sloppy handwriting from the 17th century, a musician recently turned to artificial intelligence to help solve a motet's textural problems. Despite many negative impressions, 'the process of exploring ChatGPT opened my eyes to its potential' as a valuable research partner.
Getting Kids HookedÂ
Seattle’s SHAK, Chicago’s Stevenson High School, and a new start-up, Lute4Kids in upstate New York, are among the few U.S. early-music programs devoted to hands-on, pre-collegiate education. It’s a pipeline the field must nurture if it’s to thrive.
Celebrating the ‘Founding Parent’ of Folk Studies in America
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.'
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EMA RECORDING & BOOK REVIEWS
Discovering Graupner on the Old Post Road
Boston's Musicians of the Old Post Road have again uncovered music by known composers whose works have been neglected. Their latest album is centered on Christoph Graupner (and a few contemporaries). Here the music is 'so vividly shaped and shot through with energy that the composer’s unique play of rhythm, texture, and harmony remain difficult to ignore.'
Life Lessons and Catholic Oratorio
Robert L. Kendrick's ambitious new monograph, a detailed look at the oratorio in Catholic Italy and Hapsburg Vienna, covers more than a century of repertoire, connecting Biblical stories — fratricide, child sacrifice, forbidden love, death — with political events and considers the social and moral impact on the listeners.
Solitude: Reginald Mobley Unplugged
American countertenor Reginald Mobley's much-anticipated second solo album, 'Solitude,' is a collection of mostly English songs, with familiar tunes and a few surprising additions. Backed by lutenist Brandon Acker and bassist Doug Balliett, it's music of substance and haunting beauty.
Burly, Bawdy, Full of Good Cheer: Haydn’s The Seasons
Haydn's oratorio 'The Seasons,' in a stunning new recording from Jordi Savall and his period-instrument Les Concert de Nations, is full of pastoral joy and almost-operatic drama, 'burly, occasionally bawdy, and chock-full of good cheer.'
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COMMUNITY NEWS & PRESS RELEASES
Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble14 High StCambridge, MA 02138October 20, 2025 Sarasa Ensemble continues its 2025-26 Concert Season with gentle works from Dowland, Arne, and more in Sweet Sleep Sarasa Chamber ...
A restless collective of medieval experimentalists, the Flatbush-based band Alkemie recently gained recognition beyond Brooklyn with their soundtrack for the video game Pentiment (directed by Obsidian studios and published by ...
Tuesday, November 4th 2025 | 7:30 PM Tafelmusik with Rachel Podger The legendary Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik is no stranger to San Diego audiences. But when it joins forces with Rachel ...
Registration Now Open! For the seventh consecutive year, the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival and its circle of friends are opening up applications to the Early Music Competition for young ensembles ...
This year’s Silbiger Grant recipients Loren Ludwig and colleagues will present music for voices and viols from c.1800 from the Northampton area, performed on New England viols built in the ...
