About the Baroque Northwest ensemble

Formed in 1993 as Benevolent Order for Music of the Baroque, the group is now known as Baroque Northwest and is made up of people who share the same dedicated and progressive attitude towards performing music from the Medieval through Classical periods. We challenge and question the traditional canon of what historical performance practice should be, as well as the traditional concept of what a concert should be. We have fun with our concerts while never violating the integrity of the music (we show respect for the dead). We make our programs accessible to the general public while keeping them stimulating to our regular audience of early music aficionados. While some early music ensembles chose to perform in 19th-century costumes, we perform in modern clothes because we believe ancient music is for modern people. Our programs are given in a traditional classical music setting but we often speak directly and informally to the audience, sharing interesting and amusing anecdotes about the music and composers, and we have been known to encourage audience participation. In the 2003-04 season we began to further expand our musical horizons with two cross-genre concerts with two different groups who play traditional music from around the world. The concerts were an opportunity to make historical connections between different peoples and musics. We've also begun premiering pieces written just for us. We've been featured on the NPR syndicated program Harmonia, performed at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival, the Boston and Bloomington early music festivals, and given concerts in Israel, California, and the Midwest. We are a graduate of the Professional Affiliate program of the Early Music Guild. We've been part of the Washington State Arts Commission Arts In Education Program, with tours and residencies at schools in rural Washington. Our programs include everything from intimate chamber music, orchestral music with concerto soloists, sacred and secular music for chorus and orchestra, vocal a capella concerts, and staged baroque opera productions. Our programs also include jazz, zydeco, traditional, and contemporary music. We love music of all types and enjoy sharing it.

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