Boston Baroque

Established in 1973, Boston Baroque launched as the United States’ inaugural large-scale ensemble devoted to Baroque repertoire on period instruments. Widely regarded as remaining among the finest such groups, it has amassed an extensive catalog of concerts and discs devoted to fresh and uncommon material. Martin Pearlman has led the ensemble from its inception as both conductor and harpsichordist, while also recovering overlooked scores and readying them for the stage. The organization began under the name Banchetto Musicale, drawn from Johann Hermann Schein’s set of instrumental dances. At that moment, historically informed performances of Baroque music were uncommon in America and far from prevalent even in Europe. During the 1980s the ensemble introduced several landmark American presentations, among them Boston’s first period-instrument Messiah in 1981—an event that grew into an annual local tradition—the first U.S. staging of Rameau’s Zoroastre, and the initial American readings on period instruments of Mozart’s Don Giovanni together with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, and Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. After joining the Telarc roster in 1992, the group recorded Messiah as its debut release for the label, an affiliation that continued until widespread staff reductions curtailed the company’s activities in the 2010s. Pearlman’s extensive research underpinned further notable projects, including the modern premiere of the collaborative singspiel Der Stein der Weisen in 1998, which incorporated contributions from Mozart; a seldom-mounted, semi-staged traversal of Monteverdi’s three extant operas; the first period-instrument account of Robert Levin’s completion of Mozart’s Requiem, K. 626; and the anthology Lost Music of Early America, spotlighting Moravian musical traditions from North Carolina. The orchestra’s reach extends through Beethoven—several of whose shorter pieces received their first historically informed performances from the group—and into the works of Cherubini. Beyond its regular Boston subscription series, the ensemble has toured throughout the United States and visited Poland twice, in 2003 and 2015. In 2013 Boston Baroque moved to Scotland’s Linn label and issued a recording of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass; five years later the orchestra supported Baroque violinist Christina Day Martinson on Linn’s release of Heinrich Ignaz von Biber’s Mystery Sonatas. Three Grammy nominations have recognized the ensemble’s discs of Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, and Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232.