2020 Festival & Showcase: June 8-10, 2020, Berkeley, CA
Early Music America is thrilled to announce that we will present the 10th annual Young Performers Festival (June 8-9 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music) and 3rd annual Emerging Artists Showcase (June 10 in Berkeley) as part of the 2020 Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, in Berkeley, CA. This will mark EMA’s 4th partnership with the biennial Berkeley Festival, the first since Derek Tam was appointed Executive Director of San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS), which manages the festival.
One of the four Showcase finalists will be offered a performance during the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado’s 2020-21 season. The decision will be announced immediately following the Showcase concert at UC Berkeley’s Hertz Hall on Wednesday, June 10.
The application period is now closed for the 2020 Festival & Showcase. Please check back in Fall 2020 for the next application.
Young Performers Festival
Since 2010, Early Music America (EMA) has been proud to bring together college and university ensembles throughout North America to perform at the nation’s leading early music festivals in Berkeley, CA, Bloomington, IN, and Boston, MA. Applicants submitting programs that move beyond the traditional Western classical canon, but fall within the same historical range (to ca.1820), are encouraged to apply.
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2019 Festival Ensembles
The Brandenburg Project (Community Music School of Ann Arbor)
McGill University Baroque Ensemble (McGill University)
Oberlin Baroque (Oberlin Conservatory)
Peabody Renaissance Ensemble (Peabody Conservatory)
USC Thornton Collegium Workshop (University of Southern California)
Emerging Artists Showcase
Begun in 2018, the Showcase goes beyond the university level already represented by YPF to serve the broadest possible range of artists. The term “emerging artist” can include historically-informed performers of all types, without respect to age. Applicants are asked to describe how they see the future of historical performance taking shape, and to define how their role as artists and ensembles aligns with that future vision. Applicants submitting programs that move beyond the traditional Western classical canon, but fall within the same historical range (to ca.1820), are encouraged to apply.
Learn more
2019 Showcase Artists and Ensembles
Aperi Animam: Milwaukee, WI
Joyce Chen, harpsichord: Princeton, NJ
Vincent Lauzer, recorder: Montréal, QC
Rezonance Baroque Ensemble: Toronto, ON
As we move forward with the Festival & Showcase, our hope is that we can offer soloists and ensembles a supportive and stimulating environment in which they can grow and flourish. We look forward to presenting dynamic concerts that reflect the future of historical performance in North America.
Benefits of the Festival
EMA and BLEMF will present a concert for each selected ensemble and this will be livestreamed and recorded. We will offer financial assistance for travel and help with finding accommodation. EMA and BLEMF will produce national publicity for both the Festival and the Showcase and promote musicians by way of EMAg—the Magazine of Early Music America, EMA’s Weekly E-Notes, as well as EMA and BLEMF’s website and social media accounts.
Past Participants
2018: Bloomington
Young Performance Festival
B’more Bach Ensemble (Peabody Conservatory)
Case Western-Reserve University Baroque Ensemble
Oberlin Baroque
Tarara (Indiana University)
USC Thornton Collegium Musicum
Emerging Artists Showcase
Adriana Ruiz
Costanoan Trio
Mélisande McNabney
Rachell Ellen Wong
Rumore Terribile
Voyage Sonique
2017: Boston
McGill Baroque Ensemble
Oberlin Baroque
USC Thornton Collegium Workshop
Westminster Kantorei
2016: Berkeley
USC Thornton Sinfonia
Opera Nova (Indiana University)
Bowling Green State University Early Music Ensemble
Case Western Reserve University Collegium Musicum Medieval Ensemble
University Baroque Ensemble at BrighamYoung University of Idaho
2015: Boston
Case-Western Reserve University Baroque Chamber Music and Dance Ensemble
The University of Northern Texas
The Peabody Conservatory
Oberlin University Baroque Ensemble
Indiana University
McGill University
Seattle Historical Arts for Kids
2014: Berkeley
Arethusa Musica
McGill School’s The Victoria IV Madrigal Ensemble
Case-Western Reserve University Baroque Chamber Music and Dance Ensemble
Liaison Baroque Ensemble
USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
Musa Baroque Ensemble
2013: Boston
Tufts Early Music Ensemble
Longy School of Music Bard College; Longy Dufay Ensemble; Longy Lassus Consort and Longy Bach Cantata Project
Juilliard 415
The Peabody Consort
University of North Texas Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers
Florida State Early Music Ensemble
USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
Case Western Reserve University, Collegium Musicum
Oberlin Baroque Ensemble
McGill University Baroque Orchestra
the Sebastians
2012: Berkeley
San Francisco Conservatory of Music Baroque Ensemble
University of California at Berkeley Baroque Chamber Ensemble
University of North Texas Collegium Singers
Stanford University Baroque Ensemble
Case Western Reserve University Baroque Ensemble and Collegium Musicum
USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
2011: Boston
Stony Brook Baroque Players
Harvard University Early Music Society
CWRU/Cleveland Institute of Music Baroque Orchestra
McGill University Baroque Orchestra
University of North Texas Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers
Brandeis Early Music Ensemble
Longy School of Music Collegium Musicum
Peabody Conservatory ensembles
Case Western Reserve University Violin Band and Collegium Musicum
Boston University Chamber Ensemble
Oberlin Baroque Ensemble
¡Sacabuche! from Indiana University
University of Southern California Collegium Musicum and Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
EMA Festival Ensemble